ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION DUE TO CORONARY EMBOLIZATION FROM LEFT ATRIAL MYXOMA

We encountered a 67-year-old woman with a left atrial myxoma which was discovered during echocardiographic examination and emergency coronary arteriography just after an onset of acute inferior myocardial infarction. Coronary arteriography disclosed an abrupt and total occlusion of the right coronary artery and an abnormally large and tortuous atrial circumflex branch feeding a left atrial mass. These findings were the most useful for diagnosis. Aorto-coronary bypass surgery and excision of the myxoma were performed simultaneously by emergency operation. The postoperative course was uneventful. Myocardial infarction in this patient is believed to have been caused by coronary embolization from the left atrial myxoma.