Atrial myxoma: a 25-year single-institutional follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE

A single-institutional study on atrial myxoma. Patient data and data obtained from the survivors during follow-up were reviewed.

METHODS

We studied 109 patients (61.5% female) who underwent surgical excision of atrial myxoma between January 1980 and December 2005. Mean age at the time of surgery was 60 +/- 14 years (range 1-83 years). Overall survival and atrial myxoma recurrence were determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Linearized rates of recurrence at follow-up are reported.

RESULTS

One hundred and two (93.6%) of the 109 tumours were found in the left atrium. Comparative mean age distribution revealed a significant difference between patients operated on between 1980 and 1992 and patients operated on between 1993 and 2005 (55 +/- 15 and 63 +/- 13 years, respectively; P < 0.05). All patients survived the operation. Three patients were lost to follow-up. The 15-year and 25-year survival rates were 91 +/- 4% and 72 +/- 12%, respectively. Survival of patients after myxoma removal did not significantly differ from the expected survival of the general population. Recurrent myxomas developed in two patients (mean age 50 +/- 7 years) with a 25-year freedom from reoperation of 96 +/- 3% and a linearized rate of 0.17 +/- 0.12%/year.

CONCLUSIONS

Myxomas tend to be observed in a more elderly and higher-risk population, often at an early stage. The extended follow-up of patients with intracardiac myxomas shows that surgical excision of such tumours is curative with low mortality and good long-term outcome.