The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 58, 483-487, Copyright © 1994 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Atrial myxoma: report of 24 operations using the biatrial approach
SS Kabbani, M Jokhadar, R Meada, H Jamil, F Abdun, A Sandouk and F Nabhani
Damascus University Cardiovascular Surgical Center, Syria.
Between October 1978 and June 1993, 24 consecutive operations for atrial
myxoma were performed on 23 patients at the Damascus University
Cardiovascular Surgical Center, using the biatrial approach. Fifteen of the
patients were female; ages ranged between 4 and 71 years. Nineteen patients
had symptoms of left and 3 of right atrioventricular obstruction. One
patient presented with a cerebrovascular accident, and another with
recurrent emboli to the lower extremities. Ten patients had constitutional
manifestations. Diagnosis was established preoperatively in all patients by
echocardiography with or without angiocardiography. Twenty-one patients had
left atrial myxoma, 1 of whom had a double lesion. Two patients had right
atrial myxoma; in 1 of them it extended to the left atrium. This last
patient had the only recurrence in the series, which was removed 7 years
after the initial operation. All tumors were excised with a wide margin of
full-thickness septum. Four patients had concomitant mitral valve
reconstruction. There was no hospital mortality, and follow-up did not
reveal any other complication related to the operation.