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Cardiac Tumors and Thrombi · Journal article
Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine · September 7, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This is a single case report of totally thoracoscopic beating-heart thrombectomy for catheter-related right atrial thrombus in a breast cancer patient, performed after anticoagulation failed. The authors claim the technique is safe, feasible, and offers good cosmetic outcomes, but provide no quantitative efficacy data, no comparison to standard thrombectomy, and no follow-up outcome metrics beyond narrative feasibility.
Case report. One patient with breast cancer and catheter-related right atrial thrombus secondary to totally implantable venous access port (TIVAP) used for chemotherapy delivery.. Intervention: Totally thoracoscopic beating-heart thrombectomy.. n = 1.
Patient with breast cancer developed right atrial thrombus following chemotherapy via totally implantable venous access port (TIVAP). Anticoagulation therapy failed to resolve the thrombus, necessitating surgical intervention. Totally thoracoscopic beating-heart thrombectomy was performed and described as safe and feasible with favorable clinical outcomes and excellent cosmetic results.
No quantitative outcome data: no operative time, blood loss, complications, or mortality reported.
This case suggests totally thoracoscopic beating-heart surgery may be an alternative to open or percutaneous approaches for CRAT, but a single report cannot establish clinical benefit, safety profile, or comparative advantage. Replication in a small series or case-control study would be needed to guide clinical decision-making.
A single case report describing a novel surgical technique application; no comparator, no outcome data beyond feasibility narrative, and no replication across patients.
As stated by the source record.
This case suggests totally thoracoscopic beating-heart surgery may be an alternative to open or percutaneous approaches for CRAT, but a single report cannot establish clinical benefit, safety profile, or comparative advantage. Replication in a small series or case-control study would be needed to guide clinical decision-making.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
What is missing. This record has no reported figures. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Totally implantable venous access ports (TIVAPs) are widely used to provide reliable vascular access for chemotherapy in patients with malignancies. However, they may rarely give rise to catheter-related right atrial thrombus (CRAT), a potentially life-threatening complication. Here, we report a case of a patient with breast cancer who developed a right atrial thrombus following chemotherapy administered through a TIVAP. As anticoagulation therapy failed to resolve the thrombus, the patient subsequently underwent totally thoracoscopic beating-heart thrombectomy. Multimodality imaging played a pivotal role in localizing the intracardiac mass and characterizing its features, thereby guiding surgical planning. This case demonstrates that totally thoracoscopic beating-heart surgery is a safe and feasible treatment option for CRAT, offering favorable clinical outcomes and excellent cosmetic results, with promising potential for broader clinical application.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.