Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of primary malignant tumors of the left atrium and the late results of surgical treatment. Methods The clinical experience with surgical treatment of 13 primary malignant tumors of left atrium was analyzed retrospectively. Complete resection of malignant tumor was achieved in 7 cases(53.8％ )，and subtotal resection was achieved in 3 cases(23.0％), only biopsy was performed in 2 patients(15.4％ )because of extensive metastasis of tumor. Heart transplantation was performed in 1 case(7.7％). Results There was no hospital death. The pathological diagnosis was undifferentiated sarcoma in 5 cases, leiomyosarcoma in 2 cases, malignant transformation of myxoma in 2 cases, angiosarcoma in 1 case, fibrosarcoma in 1 case, malignant fibrous histocytoma in 1 case and malignant hemangiopericytoma in 1 case. There were 11 patients followedup for 3 months to 65 months and showed 9 late death due to recurrence or metastasis. There was 2 patients lost of follow-up. Conclusion Primary malignant tumors of the left atrium should be resected to relieve symptoms caused by local tumor growth. Surgery provides control of primary tumor and allows the potential for cure or longterm survival with effective adjuvant therapy. The prognosis of these patients is still poor.

Citation： ZHANG Jing,HUANG Zhixiong,SUN Hansong,XU Jianping,WANG Hongyue. Clinical Analysis of Primary Malignant Tumors of the Left Atrium. Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 2008, 15(3): 174-177. doi: Copy