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SUMMARYIn the course of the evaluation of five patients with left atrial myxoma, it was noted that the movement of the myxoma was related to specific changes in left atrial hemodynamics.

Three cases of left atrial myxoma were studied by echocardiography. In one case the atrial tumour was prolapsing through the mitral orifice into the left ventricular cavity; in the other two cases it was not. The angiocardiographic and operative findings correlated well with those from echocardiography. A systematic echocardiographic study is important; the suprasternal approach is useful in the echocardiographic exploration of the left atriu, especially for nonprolapsing tumours.

Similar echocardiographic findings in two patients with surgically confirmed Candida endocarditis of the aortic valve are described. It is suggested that echocardiography performed early in the clinical course of evaluation of drug abuse patients with suspected endocarditis, particularly in the presence of negative blood cultures and systemic emboli, may help establish the diagnosis. Once the diagnosis has been suggested by echocardiography, further steps for confirmation of the diagnosis of Candida endocarditis and therapeutic intervention may be undertaken with minimal time lag.