Syndrome of Fever, Anaemia, and High Sedimentation Rate with an Atrial Myxoma

Within the last five years 15 cases have been reported in which a myxoma of the left atrium was diagnosed during life. In one instance the diagnosis was suggested by the clinical findings alone (Kirkeby and Leren, 1952), and in the others it was ultimately made either by angiocardiography In 12 cases an attempt was made to excise the tumour, but the operation was successful in only four of them The myxoma was found unexpectedly during exploration of the mitral valve in at least two of the successful cases, and a second operation with a different anatomical approach was then necessary. Pre-operative diagnosis of these tumours is therefore desirable, but their extreme rarity and their tendency to imitate mitral-valve lesions makes this difficult. On this account we report the case below. which, although extensively investigated, was not diagnosed during life.