Cardiac myxoma: related to immunosuppression?

Abstract

Cardiac myxomas are the most common type of primary cardiac tumours. Nevertheless, it is still a rare tumour and its relation with immunosuppressive therapy, which is essential after organ transplantation, remains uncertain. We report the case of a 30-year-old woman, who underwent kidney and pancreatic transplantation for severe nephropathy due to type I diabetes mellitus and since then, under heavy immunosuppressive treatment. Four years after surgery, a left atrial myxoma was discovered. Three other cases of cardiac myxomas following transplantation and immunodepressive status have been reported in the literature, which raises the question of an association between immunosuppression and the development of cardiac myxomas.

A Case of Comorbid Myxoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Not Just a Coincidence?

“…Little is known about the genetic defects leading to myxomas. Myxomas have developed in children after chemotherapy, suggesting the role of acquired genetic mutations [15]. Abnormalities in chromosomes 12 and 17 have been reported in two cases [16].…”

Atrial Myxoma-Related to Chronic Immunosuppression: A case report

“…A third case reported in literature was a 17-year-old thalassemic who underwent allogenic bone marrow trans-plant, who developed atrial myxoma with 47 days of starting the immunosuppression with cyclosporin [5]. Finally, a fourth case reported is of a 30-year-old diabetic female who underwent renal and pancreatic transplant and developed atrial myxoma after being on immunosuppression with cyclosporine, micophenolate mofetil and Prednisolone [6]. All these cases including the index case were immunosuppressed with cyclosporin, which raised the suspicion of specific association of cyclosporin medication with the development of atrial myxoma, however, this is difficult to assess due to rarity of the cardiac myxoma.…”

Mixoma auricular izquierdo: importancia de la imagen cardiovascular en el seguimiento a largo plazo de las sobrevivientes de cáncer de mama

“…As a result of diagnosis suspicion bias, the knowledge that the patient has been diagnosed with one disease (neoplasm) influences the intensity of their search for another condition. 10 Some case reports, however, describe cardiac myxomas as a late complication in cancer survivors, hypothesizing that chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or immunosuppression [11][12][13] may have contributed to the tumor's growth. 14,15 Cardiac tumors are rare, and any spaceoccupying mass noted on cardiovascular imaging modalities should be considered as part of the differential diagnosis.…”