International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences. 18/nov/2024;37:e20240135.

Six-Year Follow-Up of an Octogenarian With a Left Atrial Myxoma: Case Report

Miguel Bernardino Antunes Vicente , Tânia Amaro , Elsa Fernandes

DOI: 10.36660/ijcs.20240135

Abstract

Myxoma is the most common primary cardiac tumour, especially in adults. However, reports on this nosological entity in patients over the age of 80 are scarce in the medical literature. Echocardiography is a useful diagnostic tool for detecting cardiac myxomas. These tumours are usually surgically removed soon after diagnosis, limiting knowledge of their natural evolution. In this report, we describe the case of an 86-year-old woman who had been followed irregularly for arterial hypertension since 2016, when an echocardiogram showed a left atrial myxoma adhered to the interatrial septum, initially without impairment of the mitral valve (MV) or obstruction of the pulmonary veins (PV). The patient refused surgical removal at the time. Six years later, she was hospitalized for urinary sepsis. A new echocardiogram revealed an increase in the size of the myxoma, which occupied around 80% of the left atrium (LA), obstructing the PV and MV. New suggestion of surgery was refused by the patient.