Sudden death by massive systemic embolism from cardiac myxoma. Role of the clinical autopsy and review of literature

Abstract

Cardiac myxoma is a rare benign neoplasm of the heart. Historically myxomas were incidental findings during autopsies, however improved imaging techniques made these diagnosis possible in living patients, making the surgical treatment of these neoplasms achievable. Cardiac myxomas may occur both sporadically and in a familial context, often in the clinico-pathological picture of the Carney complex. While familial myxomas occur in the context of well-known genetic mutations, the molecular etiology of sporadically occurring myxomas is still not completely clear. We must note however that many of the patients affected by myxomas are asymptomatic; when symptoms are present they are often nonspecific and hard to decipher, especially when referring to sporadically occurring heart myxomas. In this paper we describe a case of sudden death from the massive embolization of a left atrial cardiac myxoma. We also reviewed all the cases in the literature of sudden death from heart myxoma embolism. An accurate epidemiology of heart myxomas would be the key to outline the best treatment practices and the etiology of sporadic myxomas, nevertheless this target could only be pursued with a deep revaluation of the clinical autopsy as a fundamental diagnostic tool.

Keywords: Atrial myxoma; Clinical autopsy; Sudden death.