BACKGROUND: The natural history of cerebral aneurysms derived from metastatic spread of cardiac myxomas is not well known, and their management presents many dilemmas. METHODS: Case report and literature review. RESULTS: An 18-year-old man presented with an intraparenchymal hemorrhage several months after resection of an atrial myxoma. Angiography showed several myxomatous aneurysms, one of which had bled. The patient had a recurrent hemorrhage before undergoing surgical resection. MRI, angiographic, and pathological data are presented for this rare condition. CONCLUSIONS: Myxomatous aneurysms are important entities for neurointensivists to recognize and can present years after diagnosis. Patients presenting with cerebral infarction or hemorrhage of unknown etiology should undergo cardiac imaging to rule out atrial myxoma, as up to 50% of patients with myxomas present initially with stroke.
BACKGROUND: The natural history of cerebral aneurysms derived from metastatic spread of cardiac myxomas is not well known, and their management presents many dilemmas. METHODS: Case report and literature review. RESULTS: An 18-year-old man presented with an intraparenchymal hemorrhage several months after resection of an atrial myxoma. Angiography showed several myxomatous aneurysms, one of which had bled. The patient had a recurrent hemorrhage before undergoing surgical resection. MRI, angiographic, and pathological data are presented for this rare condition. CONCLUSIONS:Myxomatous aneurysms are important entities for neurointensivists to recognize and can present years after diagnosis. Patients presenting with cerebral infarction or hemorrhage of unknown etiology should undergo cardiac imaging to rule out atrial myxoma, as up to 50% of patients with myxomas present initially with stroke.
Authors: Bradley P Dispensa; David A Saloner; Gabriel Acevedo-Bolton; Achal S Achrol; Lianger-der Jou; Charles E McCulloch; S Claiborne Johnston; Randall T Higashida; Christopher F Dowd; Van V Halbach; Nerissa U Ko; Michael T Lawton; Alastair J Martin; Nancy Quinnine; William L Young Journal: J Magn Reson Imaging Date: 2007-07 Impact factor: 4.813