[Heart-skin syndrome and cardiac myxoma: presentation of a case and clinical experience of 17 years].

Between 1971 and 1988, cardiac myxoma was identified in 13 (0.003%) of 4000 patients who underwent open-heart surgery at the hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal. One patient with multiple right atrial tumours also had abnormal cutaneous pigmentation compatible with the recently identified syndrome of "Carney's complex." This syndrome has also been associated with endocrine abnormalities such as primary nodular adrenal hyperplasia, with or without Cushing's syndrome. The authors review the literature and compare the findings with their experience in the surgical treatment of cardiac myxomas.