Cardiac autotransplant for surgical treatment of a malignant neoplasm.

Because of their anatomic location, cardiac sarcomas often interfere with cardiac function. Excision is considered to palliate the cardiac defect, but complete excision is often difficult owing to access, particularly in left atrial tumors. Incomplete resection results in tumor recurrence. To achieve complete resection of a large left atrial sarcoma, we used the technique of cardiac explantation, extracorporeal resection of the tumor with cardiac reconstruction, and cardiac autotransplantation.