Cardiac Tumors

During the past three decades, the development and refinement of noninvasive imaging modalities as well as technical advances in heart surgery have changed profoundly the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac tumors. Primary cardiac tumors are rare in all age groups. Reynen analyzed the data of 22 autopsy series and found a frequency of 0.02%, corresponding to 200 tumors in 1 million autopsies. In pediatric patients, more than 90% of primary cardiac tumors are benign. The clinical manifestations of cardiac tumors vary considerably, from asymptomatic presentations to life-threatening cardiac events. The etiology of a cardiac tumor can often be determined by talking into consideration the following factors: age of the patient at the time of presentation, tumor location, histology-based likelihood, noninvasive tissue characteristics, and clinical features. Although the exact surgical management of a cardiac tumor depends largely on the site and extent of the mass, some general comments regarding surgical resection are appropriate.