[Multiple and recurrent cardiac myxomas. Is it a familial disease?].

From 1964 to 1992, 56 patients with cardiac myxoma have been operated on. Sixty seven operations have been made during which 85 myxomas have been excised. Five patients had been reoperated from recurrent myxoma: 4 patients 2 times, 1 patient one time. In this population we observe 7 cases of multiple myxomas implanted 7 times in many cavities. The study of this series displays a lot of risk factors: implantation outside the left atrium, multiple myxomas in one or several cavities, true recurrence of myxoma, young age of the patient, associated lesions as part of the Carney's complex. In this series, 13 patients, representing 5 families, have one or more of these risk factors. in two of them, a familial character has been demonstrated. Analysis of these special kinds of cardiac myxomas displays very closed analogy between familial myxomas and high risk group. These findings suggest that recurrent and/or multiple and/or familial myxoma represent the same entity.