Key result
Prenatal echocardiography identifies rare fetal cardiac myxoma, enabling successful resection at 20 days of life.
Why the study?
Cardiac myxomas have been reported in neonates but never diagnosed prenatally in the fetus.
Case Report (n=1)
This case provides the first evidence that cardiac myxomas can arise in the fetus and be diagnosed prenatally using echocardiography.
Prenatal detection of fetal cardiac myxoma with early postnatal resection is feasible; leaves open whether screening or intervention timing improves outcomes in this rare condition.
BACKGROUND: Cardiac myxomas have been reported in the neonate but never in the fetus. We present the prenatal diagnosis of such a tumor. CASE: The patient had been referred for fetal echocardiography for a right atrial mass. At 23 weeks' gestation, the tumor was initially located in the left atrium. Then it crossed the foramen ovale and began moving between the right atrium and ventricle. It appeared as a soft, moderately echogenic mass with a long peduncle attached to the right atrial wall. It was followed until delivery and removed at 20 days of life. CONCLUSION: This case shows that myxomas can also arise in the fetus. Such a diagnosis should be taken into consideration when a soft, echogenic, pedunculated mass is seen within the fetal heart.
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D. Paladini (2003) conducted a case report in Fetal cardiac myxoma (n=1). Prenatal ultrasonography was evaluated on Diagnosis and clinical course of fetal cardiac myxoma. Prenatal ultrasonography successfully identified a fetal cardiac myxoma at 23 weeks' gestation, which was followed until delivery and surgically removed at 20 days of life.
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