Myxoma of the heart; roentgen diagnosis during life in three cases.

Heretofore, the presence of myxoma of the heart could only be suspected during life. Angiocardiography in three cases, one early in life; one in the fifth; and the other in the sixth decade revealed characteristic left atrial filling defects. Subsequent surgical exploration with removal of fragments of the tumor in two instances confirmed the diagnosis of myxoma. Two patients failed to survive operation and autopsy examination established the validity of the angiocardiographic findings. The fact that cardiac myxomas are benign lesions often attached to the interatrial septum by a stalk makes their surgical removal a practical possibility. Furthermore, advances in surgical techniques such as the atrial well’ and the development of extracorporeal mechanical pumps2 are expected to make surgery curative.