Abstract
The author studied the relationship between clinical features and immunohistochemical findings in 15 patients with cardiac myxoma. The size of myxoma was not correlated with either cardiac function or embolic complications. Bat embolism occurred more frequently in lobulated and papillary myxoma than in rounded myxoma. The symptoms of autoimmmune-like diseases were present in 14 patients. Immunohistochemical studies revealed a high rate of IL-6 expression in myxomas. The author speculates that IL-6 excreted by the tumor may play a significant role in the development of clinical features which resemble those of autoimmune diseases. In addition, myxoma cells stained positive with such mesenchymal cell markers as desmin (53%), vimentin (20%), factor VIII (13%), S-100 (33%), no squamous epithelium (NSE) (7%), and cytokeratin (7%). These observations might suggest that cardiac myxomas arise from mutipotential mesenchymal cells.
