[The recurrence of an atrial myxoma in a patient with a mechanical mitral prosthesis--apropos a case].

Recurrence of cardiac myxoma after surgery is an uncommon situation, particularly if a wide excision of the tissue under the tumour has been done. The authors report a case of a 54-year-old male presenting with a left atrial myxoma near the mitral valve, which had to be replaced by a mechanical prosthetic valve during the removal of the tumour. One year later, he was admitted to hospital with persistent fever, weight loss, and congestive heart failure. After a positive hemoculture, intravenous antibiotherapy was initiated, and twice modified because of relapsing fever. Six weeks later, he was transferred to our institution, after an episode of severe acute pulmonary edema. 2D-Doppler echocardiography suggested the possibility of prosthesis dysfunction, revealing a transprothetic diastolic flow with a high peak velocity and moderately elevated pressure half-time. No intra-atrial masses were visualized. Computed tomography was also inconclusive, because of multiple artifacts produced by the prosthesis. These results led to the performance of a cardiac catheterization with contrast ventriculography, which revealed the presence of a transprothetic gradient, and mild mitral regurgitation. The patient was submitted to cardiac surgery, which revealed a recurrent pedunculated left atrial myxoma, with mechanical obstruction of the mitral prosthetic valve. No signs of endocarditis were found. Recurrent cardiac myxomas are reviewed and discussed, as well as the specific problems of the present case, namely the presence of a mechanical prosthetic mitral valve and the initial hemoculture results, with consequent diagnostic delay.