Recurrent Left Atrial Myxoma

YXOMA is an infrequent but important LYE intracardiac lesion which occurs most often in the left atrium. Although it has been suggested that atrial myxomas merely represent degenerated thrombi, evidence strongly favors a neoplastic origin.1 Since the first successful removal of an intracardiac myxoma in 1955,2 numerous reports dealing with surgical resection of these tumors have appeared in the literature.39 In 1966, Newman and associates3 reviewed 58 attempted excisions of left atrial myxomas and reported no recurrence, and Firor's group4 reported a 5 to 10-year follow-up of their three operative cases with no reappearance of the tumor. They concluded that simple excision of atrial myxomas was adequate and that a resection of the adjacent atrial septum or wall was unnecessary. Similar opinions have been expressed by others,5' " based on the absence of recurrence and a lack of invasion of the myxoma beyond the elastic fibers of the second endothelial layer. We recently had the opportunity to study a patient in whom a left atrial myxoma