Thorac. cardiovasc. Surgeon 45 (1997) H. Akbas, K. Kr rali, B. Daglar, V. Kutay, 6. lsik, and C. Yakut Thorac.cardiovasc.Surgeon 45 (1997) 148 -150 © Georg ThiemeVerlag Stuttgart NewYork Surgical Treatment of Left-Atrial Myxoma in Carney's Complex H. K. Klrali, B. Doglor, V. Kutoy, 6. ond C. Yokut kosuyolu Heart and Resarch Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey _ Although rare, cardiac myxomas are the most frequently encountered primary neoplasms of the heart. Cardiac myxomas are typically sporadic, benign, non-recurrent tumors, and they are usually seen in the left atrium. Patients who have myxoma- associated spotty pigmented skin lesions, endocrine neoplasms with overactivity, and noncardiac myxomatous tumors are said to have Carney's complex. This report presents a 21-year-old woman with Carney's complex. She was operated for tetralogy of Fallot and total correction was performed at another center when she was three years old. Two years ago, she was operated on for a primary pigmented nodular adrenocortical tumor and bilateral adrenalectomy was performed. Her present admission to our clinic was for left-atrial myxoma with associated symp- toms. Patients with Carney's complex have distinctive clinical features which separate them from the larger group of patients with the more common sporadic myxoma. The most important distinction is that the myxoma syndrome appears to be a multi- system disease. Key words: Carney's complex - Myxoma Introduction Cardiac myxomas are the most common benign neoplasms of the heart and are found primarily within the left atrium (5,8). They are isolated, benign, non-recurring tumors of the left at- rium without associated pathological conditions (3), and they are usually attached to the atrial septum (1). In addition, a sub- set of patients with card iac myxoma are recognized and assoc i- ated with pigmented skin lesions, benign noncardiac myxoma- tous tumors , and endocrine tumor s with overactivity (12).This association has been called "Carney's Complex" by Carney and his colleagues (4,7,12). These patients have distinctive features which separate them from the larger group of patients with the more common sporadic myxomas (1). Case Report We present a 21-year-old woman with Carney's complex in whom the left-atrial myxoma was excised successfully. She was refe rred to our clinic with a left-atrial myxoma discovered dur- ing a routine follow-up echocardiography. Our patient had undergone total correction for tetralogy of Fallot at another center when she was 3 years old in 1978.ln addition, her surgi- cal history included gastric banding for obesity in 1995, bilat- eral adrenalectomy for primary pigmental nodular adrenocor- tical disease which resulted in Cushing's syndrome in 1995, and a successful incisional hernia repairment last year.