The present study extends previous observations by the finding that carriers of the N5,N10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T TT genotype with various coronary high risk profiles had clearly higher coronary heart disease scores than individuals with at least one C677T C allele.

No abstract

A 38 year old male patient presented with a cardiac tumor. Echocardiography and visualization of the left atrium revealed a large myxoma. Surgical resection of the tumor was performed with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass. The extensive size of the tumor base and its localisation at the posterior left atrial wall made a conventional approach impossible. Therefore radical resection of the tumor was undertaken using autotransplantation. After a routine postoperative course, the patient was discharged on the twenty seventh hospital day.

Of 54 cardiac tumors operated upon in our clinic, 42 were classified as benign and only 12 as malignant. The major part of the benign tumors were myxoma, mainly located in the left atrium. While smaller tumors could be treated by local resections, extensive resections were necessary in 14 patients with greater tumors followed by reconstructions of the pulmonary and caval vein, mitral and tricuspid valve, and major parts of the right and left ventricular wall. In one patient with a huge benign myxoma, tumor exposition and total resection could only be achieved by an autotransplantation of the heart. While mortality after surgical therapy of benign tumors was only 1.4% (1/42) within a mean follow-up time of 48 months, the prognosis of malignant tumors is still fatal with a mortality of 50% (6/12) within a mean follow-up time of 24 months, despite additional chemotherapy or radiation.