Intravenous leiomyomatosis with intracardiac extension.

Intravenous leiomyomatosis with right intracardiac extension is rare. Surgical treatment of the tumor is still controversial because of the high postoperative risk of morbidity and mortality. We describe a series of 5 patients with these lesions who underwent elective operations with different strategies, including one-staged or two-staged resections and cardiopulmonary bypass with beating heart, cardioplegic arrest, or deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. We believe that this report represents one of the largest series of patients encountered in a single institution. In conclusion, radical resection is always possible and the outcomes are satisfactory with planned surgery. Copyright (c) 2010 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.