Detection of left atrial myxoma by gated radionuclide cardiac imaging.

Gated radionuclide cardiac blood pool scans (GCS) of end-systole and end-diastole or eight images subtending the entire cardiac cycle were performed on seven patients with left atrial myxomas documented by pulmonary cineangiography with left atrial follow-through. The ethocardiogram was either suggestive or diagnostic in all patients. In addition to demonstration of the tumor (6 patients), the GCS detected three patterns of tumor motion: 1) a defect which moved from the left atrium in end systole to the left ventricle in end diastole (2 patients); 2) a defect which remained within the region of the left atrium but decreased in size between end diastole and end systole (3); and 3) a defect which was observed within the region of the left ventricle in end diastole but disappeared in end systole (1). Thus, the GCS is a noninvasive method for detection and evaluation of motion of left atrial myxomas.