Surgery of left atrial myxoma as a second primary tumor in a patient previously treated for breast cancer

A rising level of experience and advances in cardiac surgery are leading to more operations being performed on elderly patients with other complicated diseases. But cardiac surgery in patients with malignant diseases remains a problem. Although most malignant diseases are curable, surgeons are usually reluctant to perform open heart surgery in patients with advanced tumors and a short life expectancy. Among patients undergoing open heart surgery, the incidence of malignancy is 1.2%. In this article, we present a successful atrial myxoma excision in an elderly patient with treated breast cancer using cardiopulmonary bypass and cardiac arrest.