[Superselective fibrinolysis for a middle cerebral artery embolism caused by a left atrial myxoma: case report].

A case of successful treatment by local fibrinolysis of a middle cerebral artery embolism caused by a thrombus from a left atrial myxoma is reported. A 62-year-old woman using a pacemaker and suffering from sick sinus syndrome was admitted on December 29th 1996, complaining of transient restlessness. CT and cerebral angiography revealed no abnormal vascular lesions. Eighteen months after the initial episode, she suffered a sudden onset of left hemiparesis and loss of consciousness. CT scan performed during the second episode revealed no lesions and, in particular, no early CT infarction sign, but emergent cerebral angiography revealed a right middle cerebral artery embolic occlusion. Local fibrinolysis using a tissue plasminogen activator was performed within 3 hours after the beginning of the episode, and partial recanalization was obtained within one hour after initiation of the fibrinolytic therapy. On the first hospital day, though CT revealed a small low-density area in the right basal ganglia, motor deficits gradually improved. Considering the possibility of a cardiac source of the embolism, trans-esophageal echocardiography was performed and revealed a left atrial tumor suspected to be a myxoma. It was removed by surgery on the 34th hospital day. Histological examination proved it to be a myxoma. Nine months after local fibrinolytic therapy, the patient returned to work. The diagnosis of cerebral embolism caused by cardiac myxoma is difficult to make at the time when the patient is first examined after admission. It is also hard to discover during emergent cerebral angiography with fibrinolytic therapy. Therefore, in the case of patients with cerebral embolism for which local fibrinolysis is ineffective, it should be presumed that cardiac myxoma is the source of the embolus. Direct PTA alone may be effective for such tumoral embolism.