The disturbance of left ventricular inflow by prolapsing and non-prolapsing left atrial myxoma: Estimation with pulse Doppler echocardiography

Abstract

Diagnosis of left atrial myxoma [1] is relatively easily carried out by echocardiography [2], in particular by two-dimentional (2-D) echocardiography [3], which is a useful method for diagnosis of not only the presence of myxoma but also the characteristics of myxoma. Characteristics of the myxoma would include its size, the site of attachment and it is prolapsing or not. However, the hemodynamic alteration of left ventricular (LV) filling where a myxoma is present cannot be fully assessed by echocardiography alone [4], and hemodynamics have been studied by cardiac catheterization technique [5, 6], although there are some dangers especially in patients with embolization episodes. The purpose of the present study is to estimate the severity of the LV inflow disturbance by left atrial (LA) myxoma using the pulse Doppler method.