Left atrial myxoma in a child diagnosed by ultra-sound.

LEFT atrial myxoma is the commonest primary cardiac tumour and the clinical features are well documented (Yater, 1931; Goodwin, 1964). The technique of mitral echocardiography using ultra-sound waves generated by a piezo-electric transducer directed at the anterior cusp of the mitral valve was first described in 1954 by Edler & Hertz. Effert & Domanig (1959) showed that echoes arising from a left atrial myxoma were visible behind those of the anterior cusp of the mitral valve in diastole so that the normally echo-free space is filled by multiple dots. Reports of four atrial myxomas occurring in adults and demonstrated by this method (Schattenberg, 1968; Wolffe, Popp & Feigenbaum, 1969; Popp & Harrison, 1969) have appeared previously. This is the first record of a child with an atrial myxoma in whom the diagnosis has been made by ultra-sound.