This case report highlights that benign cardiac myxomas in dogs, though rare, can cause fatal left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and sudden death.
Consider LVOT myxoma in dogs with murmurs and sudden death; leaves open true incidence and causality.
BACKGROUND: Myxoma is a very rare benign cardiac tumor in dogs. This is the first description of a cardiac myxoma originating from the left ventricular outflow tract, presumably causing sudden death. CASE PRESENTATION: A previously healthy 12-year-old male West Highland white terrier was found dead during its 1-week stay in a kennel. The dog was known to have a cardiac murmur. On necropsy, a pedunculated neoplasia was found attached to the interventricular aspect of the left ventricular outflow tract, resulting in almost complete obstruction of the aorta. As this was the only abnormality identified, the tumor was considered as the cause of sudden death. Histopathologic findings were compatible with a myxoma. CONCLUSIONS: Benign intraluminal tumors of the heart are very rare in dogs, but may have fatal consequences. Echocardiography could have revealed the cause of the cardiac murmur of this previously asymptomatic dog. Surgical removal could have been possible, as the tumor was pedunculated.
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Nijs et al. (2015) studied this question.
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