Incidental finding of a giant asymptomatic right atrial tumor

Primary cardiac tumors are very rare, atrial myxoma being the most common benign tumor of the heart. They may present with a great variety of incidental asymptomatic masses to severe life-threatening cardiovascular complications necessitating emergency surgery. Here we report the diagnostic evaluation and successful surgical resection of such a giant cardiac tumor which was found on a routine medical check-up in a 62-year-old patient. Histology confirmed diagnosis of unusually huge myxoma. This article demonstrates it’s necessary to include cardiac tumors in the differential diagnosis of subtle and non-specific cardiothoracic symptoms.     

Large left atrial myxoma presented as fever of unknown origin: a challenging diagnosis and a review of the literature

Myxoma is the most common type of primary tumors of the heart in adults. The majority of patients with myxomas may experience symptoms due to central or peripheral embolism or intracardiac obstruction, while in some cases, they may be completely asymptomatic. Rarely, patients develop unusual symptoms that complicate the diagnostic evaluation. Herein, we describe the case of a 70-year-old patient with a long-lasting low-grade fever due to a large left atrial myxoma revealed during a transthoracic echocardiography.     

Dysfunction of an ATS valve in the aortic position: the first reported case caused by pannus formation

A 64-year-old woman underwent aortic valve replacement with a 21-mm Advancing The Standard (ATS) open-pivot mechanical heart valve for bicuspid aortic valve stenosis. In addition to the appearance of a new cardiac murmur, echocardiography performed 3 years after surgery showed a high pressure gradient across the ATS valve and a reduction in the valve orifice area. Cineradiography of the valve revealed restricted leaflet opening. Subsequent multidetector-row computed tomography clearly demonstrated pannus overgrowth on the inflow aspect of the ATS valve. During a repeat operation, subvalvular overgrown pannus was confirmed and the ATS valve was replaced with a bioprosthetic valve. This is the first reported case of prosthetic valve dysfunction resulting from pannus formation in a patient with an ATS valve in the aortic position.     

左肺上叶尖后段静脉的多层螺旋CT

目的:探讨活体左肺上叶尖后段静脉在螺旋CT上的配布特点. 方法:利用Volume Wizard图像后处理工作站对160例成年男性肺部多层螺旋CT图像进行重建,并分析左肺上叶尖后段静脉及其周围结构.结果:(1) 尖后段静脉的存在率为71.25%,缺如率为28.75%,此时尖段静脉汇入左上肺静脉,而后段静脉则与前段静脉汇合成后前段静脉,再汇入左上肺静脉;(2) 尖段静脉一般有1～6条属支,而后段静脉有1～7条属支.结论:多层螺旋CT是在活体上研究肺段静脉及其属支的理想方法;左肺上叶尖后段静脉的属支数目和走行差异较大;尖段静脉与后段静脉可以共干形成尖后段静脉,尚有尖后段静脉缺如情况,这与传统解剖学的观点有明显不同.