Giant right atrial myxoma: characterization with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

Ridge, Carole A.; Killeen, Ronan P.; Sheehan, Katherine M.; Ryan, Ronan; Mulligan, Niall; Luke, David; Quinn, Martin; Dodd, Jonathan D.

doi:10.1016/j.clinimag.2009.06.027

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Volume 34, Issue 3 , Pages 231-233, May 2010

Giant right atrial myxoma: characterization with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging☆

Carole A. Ridge
- Department of Radiology, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
- Corresponding author. Department of Radiology, St Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland. Tel.: +353 87 4192582; fax: +353 1 4922948.
Ronan P. Killeen
- Department of Radiology, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
Katherine M. Sheehan
- Department of Histopathology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin 1, Ireland
Ronan Ryan
- Department of Radiology, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
Niall Mulligan
- Department of Histopathology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin 1, Ireland
David Luke
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin 1, Ireland
Martin Quinn
- Department of Cardiology, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
Jonathan D. Dodd
- Department of Radiology, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland

Received 25 May 2009; accepted 25 June 2009. published online 09 October 2009.

Abstract

A 53-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with a 2-week history of dyspnoea and chest pain. Computed tomography pulmonary angiography was performed to exclude acute pulmonary embolism (PE). This demonstrated a large right atrial mass and no evidence of PE. Transthoracic echocardiography followed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging confirmed a mobile right atrial mass. Surgical resection was then performed confirming a giant right atrial myxoma. We describe the typical clinical, radiologic, and pathologic features of right atrial myxoma.

Keywords: Heart atria, Echocardiography, Magnetic resonance imaging, Myxoma