Monitoring

​​Surgical resection of atrial myxoma has an excellent prognosis with low peri-operative complications and low recurrence rates, although lifelong follow-up is needed.[16]​[17]​ Several factors are involved in recurrence: for example, incomplete resection, tumour embolisation, transformation of benign to malignant lesion, and presence of single or multiple tumours. In cases of successful removal the risk of recurrence is low. In one study, 1 in 63 patients (1.6%) had a recurrence during a median follow-up of 12 years.[18] The affected patient had previous spread of myxomatous tissue close to the pulmonary vein, which was not radically resected.

Recurrence may be more likely when the patient's myxoma is part of other associated findings (pigmented lesion of the skin, skin myxomas, fibroadenoma of breast, adrenal cortical disease).[23]

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