Surgical management of intracardiac myxomas. A 16-year experience.

Twenty-six patients with an intracardiac myxoma underwent surgical resection at our institution from 1977 through 1992. Left atrial myxoma was diagnosed in 22 patients, left ventricular in 1, right atrial in 2, and right ventricular in 1. Six patients were asymptomatic; preoperative symptoms included dyspnea, arrhythmias, embolic episodes, and syncope. The diagnosis was established with transthoracic echocardiography in all cases but one. Surgery was performed in all cases with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass with moderate hypothermia and cold crystalloid cardioplegia. One patient with a left ventricular myxoma died in a comatose state during the immediate postoperative period. Long-term clinical and echocardiographic evaluation was performed in 19 patients; results were excellent (all the patients were in New York Heart Association functional class I or II), and no recurrences were documented. The clinical characteristics, diagnostic methods, and surgical approach are presented and discussed.

[Acute surgically-treated complications of myocardial infarct. Clinical experience and discussion of surgical indications]. / Le complicanze acute di interesse chirurgico dell'infarto miocardico. Esperienza clinica e discussione dell'indicazione chirurgica.

Post-infarction free-wall, papillary muscle and septal myocardium rupture yields a lowering mortality, not only due to the improved surgical technique but also to a more careful selection of surgical candidates. The value of pericardial decompression in cases of free-wall rupture is discussed. Echocardiographic evidence of blood in the pericardium after a myocardial infarction is not a direct indication for a diagnostic sampling, decompression or surgery. Pericardiocentesis is not a risk-free procedure and should be limited to patients with life-threatening acute tamponade. Clinical results of 34 patients operated upon for myocardial rupture, regardless of adopted technique or timing of surgery, confirm that the decision about a patient's operability should follow a careful evaluation of the following risk factors in this order: infarct size, age, cardiogenic shock, multiorgan failure, rupture site, cardiac failure and associated diseases.

[Catheter embolism. Method of bloodless extraction]. / Embolie da cateteri. Metodi di estrazione incruenta.

A detailed review and analysis of world literature on the techniques employed for the retrieval of polythene catheter fragments, metal spindles or Pudenz catheters from the heart or large vessels is presented. Non-surgical retrieval techniques are discussed on the basis of 174 cases reported in the literature. 2 personal cases of the retrieval of foreign bodies from the heart using a Deyhle-Seubert catheter are presented.