Right-sided Myxomas

Abstract

Primary tumors of the heart are rare with an incidence of 0.0017% to 0.19% in unselected patients at autopsy. Of those tumors, cardiac myxomas are the most commonly seen and account for about 50% of primary cardiac tumors. About 75% to 85% of myxomas originate in the left atrium, 15% to 20% in the right atrium, and only rare cases have been reported of myxomas originating in the left and right ventricles (5%). We present 3 cases in which right-sided myxomas were diagnosed echocardiographically and review the literature on primary cardiac myxomas.