The successful removal of a tumour from the right atrium under hypothermia.

Primary tumours of the heart are rare, and most of those reported in the literature have been histopathological observations from the postmortem table. It is to be expected that in future cardiac tumours will be diagnosed more frequently during the patient's life and before operation, thanks to diagnostic improvements in cardiology and radiography. It is equally to be expected that the number of tumours successfully removed from the heart will increase if an operative technique on the open heart under hypothermia or extracorporeal circulation is u1sed (Bickford, Egan, and Bryce, 1956). To achieve this success more experience must be collected, and that is why we report our patient in whom the cardiac tumour was diagnosed before operation and successfully removed from the open heart under hypothermia.