A city hospital has successfully removed a mass of tumour of the heart of a 37-year-old woman, who was suffering breathlessness for the past few months.

The woman, hailing from Erode district, was referred to Sri Ramakrishna Hospital here and a test revealed large mass popping in and out of the left ventricles, which was causing intermittent obstruction of the mitral valve, leading to breathlessness.

The cardio thoracic surgeon, Dr. Thiagarajamurthy, and his team decided for surgical removal of the mass, which is a very rare condition, through Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, by making a small incision in the right side of the chest for about three inches.

The entire operation was carried out and the tumour removed successfully after stopping the heart by using femoral (leg) arteries and veins for usage of heart lung machine, Thiagarajamurthy said.

Based upon the data of 22 large autopsy series, the prevalence of primary cardiac tumors is approximately 0.02 per cent (200 tumors per million autopsies). The mobility of the tumor depends upon the extent of attachment to the interatrial septum and the length of the stalk.

The woman, a daily wage earner, is doing well now.