Unusual Multilocular Cardiac Myxomas Presenting with Syncope and Embolic Stroke: A Case Report

The majority of cardiac tumors are metastatic neoplasms, but primary cardiac tumors are also an important cause of patient morbidity and mortality and occur in 3/1000 of all individuals. About half of primary cardiac tumors and 75% of benign primary cardiac tumors are myxomas. Lipomas, rhabdomyomas, and fibromas make up the majority of the remaining benign tumors. This work describes the clinical course of a symptomatic young female whose multilocular myxomas were not diagnosed initially, who then developed right hemiparesis resulting from cardiac embolization. Myxomas, if multlocular, are mostly biatrial in location. The patient had three myxomas in three chambers of the heart, including both atria and left ventricle, which were identified by transthoracic echocardiography. Multilocular myxomas most often occur in the familial setting, and are often recurrent. The patient’s disease was nonfamilial. She received surgical resection successfully, and completely recovered without evidence of recurrence over an 18-month follow-up period.