Transseptal fine needle aspiration of a large left atrial tumour.

The diagnosis of cardiac tumours is often based on images without tissue diagnosis or tissue obtained at surgery. Percutaneous myocardial biopsy via a transvenous approach has been described in literatures but this technique is not feasible with left atrial tumours. We report a patient presenting with heart failure and left atrial tumour. The diagnosis of spindle cell neoplasm was established pre-operatively via successful transseptal fine needle aspiration of cells from a left atrial tumour. We believe this technique worth consideration to aid pre-surgery diagnosis. Copyright (c) 2009 Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.