Symptoms:

Symptoms may occur at any time, but most often they accompany a change of body position. Symptoms may include:

• Breathing difficulty when lying flat
• Breathing difficulty when asleep
• Chest pain or tightness
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Sensation of feeling your heart beat (palpitations)
• Shortness of breath with activity

The symptoms and signs of left atrial myxomas often mimic mitral stenosis.

General symptoms may also be present, such as:

• Blueness of skin, especially the fingers (Raynaud's phenomenon)
• Cough
• Curvature of nails accompanied with soft tissue enlargement (clubbing) of the fingers
• Fever
• Fingers that change color upon pressure or with cold or stress
• General discomfort (malaise)
• Involuntary weight loss
• Joint pain
• Swelling - any part of the body

These general symptoms may also mimic those of infective endocarditis.

Signs and tests:

The health care provider will listen to the heart with stethoscope. A "tumor plop" (a sound related to movement of the tumor), abnormal heart sounds, or murmur may be heard. These sounds may change when the patient changes position.

Right atrial myxomas rarely produce symptoms until they have grown to be at least 13 cm (about 5 inches) wide.

Imaging tests may include:

• Chest x-ray
• CT scan of chest
• ECG
• Echocardiogram
• Doppler study
• Heart MRI
• Left heart angiography
• Right heart angiography

Blood tests:

A complete blood count may show anemia and increased white blood cells. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is increased.