MODIFIED BIATRIAL APPROACH FOR THE EXTENSIVE RESECTION OF LEFT ATRIALMYXOMAS

Surgical excision of left atrial myxomas is usually curative. When the root of the pedicle and the full thickness of the adjacent interatria l septum are excised, the repair of the created atrial septal defect r equires a pericardial or Dacron patch. The biatrial approach generally has been accepted as the technique having the advantages of well iden tifying the site of attachment and inspection of the four cardiac cham bers. We proposed a modification of this technique that allows the rec onstruction of the created septal defect without any foreign patch. (A nn Thorac Surg 1998;66:275-6). (C) 1998 by The Society of Thoracic Sur geons.