All cardiac tumors are potentially lethal due to the hemodynamics involved, complications of emboli, and cardiac arrhythmias.1 The most common appearance of a left atrial myxoma is a pedunculated mass attached to the interatrial septum that traverses the mitral valve orifice during diastole.2 A myxoma attached to the atrial free wall is considered rare but easily recognized by two-dimensional echocardiography.
1. Braunwald E. Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1984, pp 1459-1563.
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2. Pietro DA, Parisi AF. Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging. Chicago: Yearbook Medical Publishers, 1983, pp 335-347.
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3. Goldberg HP, Glen F, Dotter CT, et al. Myxoma of the left atrium: Diagnosis made during life with operative and postmortem findings. Circulation1952;6:672-672.
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4. Johnson ML, Sieker HO, Behar VS, Whalen RE. Echocardiographic diagnosis of a left atrial myxoma found attached to the free left atrial wall. J Clin Ultrasound1973;1:75-81.
