Primary cardiac tumours are discovered in about 1 in 2000 necropsies. Cardiac myxomas make up half of all benign intracardiac tumours. Seventy five per cent are located in the left atrium. The first left atrial myxoma arising from the left atrium of a transplanted heart is reported.

A patient with rheumatic heart disease, mitral stenosis, and mitral insufficiency is described. The thrombosed giant left atrium paralyzed the left vocal cord and completely obstructed the bronchi to the middle and lower lobes of the right lung. The giant left atrium mimicked a mediastinal tumor on the chest x-ray film.

Only 12 cases of coronary artery to left atrium fistula have been reported, with successful correction in at least seven. We describe a unique case of repair of a left main coronary artery to left atrium fistula using revascularisation with general discussion of the embryology, pathophysiology, complications, and diagnosis of these fistulae, indications for operation, and guidelines for surgica...

Most cases of cardiac metastasis from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) involve the vena cava or right atrium. Left ventricular metastases from RCC without involving the vena cava or right atrium are extremely rare. Herein we report a case of RCC with left ventricular metastasis causing left ventricular outflow obstruction (LVOT).

OBJECTIVES To quantify and study the distribution of innervation of the left atrium and the pulmonary veins in humans. BACKGROUND Damage to cardiac nerves has been hypothesized as the explanation for successful radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation. METHODS From January 2003 to September 2003, histologic and quantitative studies of innervation of the left atrium and the pulmonary v...

Fig. 1. Transverse CTscan showing the tumour originating from the right inferior pulmonary vein (PV) andoccupying thewhole of the left atrium (T). Note the left sided pleural effusion (E) and associated collapsed left lower lobe. Fig. 2. Pre-operative trans-thoracic echocardiography (five chamber view) showing the tumour (T) extending from the pulmonary vein (PV) and the left atrium (LA) into t...

AIMS Transmural lesion formation is critical to success in atrial fibrillation ablation and is dependent on left atrial wall thickness (LAWT). Pre- and peri-procedural planning may benefit from LAWT measurements. METHODS AND RESULTS To calculate the LAWT, the Laplace equation was solved over a finite element mesh of the left atrium derived from the segmented computed tomographic angiography (...

Background: Pulmonary veins, normally two on each side bring oxygenated blood from lungs to left atrium. During early embryonic life, absorption of pulmonary venous network by the left primitive atrial chamber results in opening of four pulmonary veins which drain independently into its chamber. The extent of absorption and hence, the number of pulmonary veins which open into left atrium may va...

We describe the M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiographic findings of a floating thrombus in the left atrium. Though the features resembled those of pedunculated left atrial myxoma, two-dimensional echocardiography was helpful in differentiating between thrombus and myxoma in the left atrium.