Background: The incidence rates of cardiac tumors are low.
Aim: To report the clinical presentation of cardiac myxomas and long-term evolution after resection.
Material and methods: Review of a database of surgical patients undergoing surgical resection of a cardiac myxoma in a public hospital between 1990 and 2018.
Results: Seventy-eight patients aged 53 ± 15 years (65% females) were included. The most frequent comorbidities were arterial hypertension (40.5%), hypothyroidism (15%) and diabetes mellitus (12%). The main presenting symptoms were dyspnea (33%), neurological deficit secondary to embolism (30%) and acute pulmonary edema (5%). The most common location was the left atrium, in 87%. During surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamp times were 50.2 ± 19.6 and 33.4 ± 15.2 min, respectively. One patient died due to severe neurological involvement. Follow-up was completed in seventy-seven patients, with a mean echocardiographic follow-up time of 10.4 ± 7.7 years. Thirty-four patients were followed for more than 10 years. Six patients (7.7%) died during the follow-up and in six patients (7%) a recurrence was identified.
Conclusions: Cardiac myxoma usually has nonspecific symptoms. Surgical excision offers excellent short and long-term results. Complications and recurrence rates are low in non-hereditary myxomas but obligates to perform echocardiographic follow-up for early diagnosis of recurrence.