Symptoms
Symptoms may occur at any time, but most often they accompany a change of body position. Symptoms may include:
- Shortness of breath with activity
- Platypnoea - Difficulty breathing in the upright position with relief in the supine position
- Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea - Breathing difficulty when asleep
- Dizziness
- Fainting
- Palpitations - Sensation of feeling your heart beat
- Chest pain or tightness
- Sudden Death (In which case the disease is an autopsy finding)
The symptoms and signs of left atrial myxomas often mimic mitral stenosis. General symptoms may also be present, such as:
- Cough
- Fever
- Cachexia - Involuntary weight loss
- General discomfort (malaise)
- Joint pain
- Blueness of skin, especially the fingers (Raynaud's phenomenon)
- Fingers that change color upon pressure or with cold or stress
- Clubbing - Curvature of nails accompanied with soft tissue enlargement of the fingers
- Swelling - any part of the body
- Presystolic heart murmur
These general symptoms may also mimic those of infective endocarditis.
Read more about this topic: Atrial Myxoma
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