Primary Tumors of the Heart

Primary heart tumors are significantly less common than secondary tumors

Benign Tumors
Benign tumors of the heart include:

Papillary Fibroelastoma
Warty or tassel-like fomation on the herat valves.

Cardiac Myxoma
In 80% of cases it's located in the left atrium, in 15% of the cases in right atrium, the rest of 5% is located in the left or right ventricles.


 * Clinical Signs
 * In case of embolism: ischemia of organs supplied by the embolized artery;
 * In case of mitral obstruction: dyspnea, fatigue, cough, hemoptysis, pulmonary edema;
 * In case of tricuspid obstruction: symptoms of right-sided heart failure

Cardiac myxoma can be accompanied by a variety of non-specific symptoms


 * Diagnositcs
 * Patient's history
 * Physical examination
 * Echocardiography


 * Treatment
 * Surgical removal
 * Echocardiographic monitoring.

= syndrome of complex myxoma
 * Carney Complex
 * This is a rare syndrome in which cardiac myxoma is associated with:
 * Multiple pigmented nevi,
 * Adrenocortical hyperplasia,
 * Pituitary tumors,
 * Multiple fibroadenomas of breasts,
 * Sertoli cell tumor
 * Skin myxoma

Sarcomas

 * Angiosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma (fibrosarcoma, liposarcoma, osteosarcoma),
 * It can occur at any age,
 * Most often in the myocardium of right atrium,
 * Clinical notes : it can manifest as heart failure, arrhythmia, pain in the precordium, pericardial effusion, cardiac tamponade, sudden cardiac death, embolization (tumor masses, thrombi; often to the CNS), pulmonary edema, syncope (when tumor is located in left atrium); extracardiac metastases (lung, mediastinum, spine, etc.); prognosis is very poor (about 3 months)
 * Diagnostics: weight loss, blobbing fingers, heart failure, arrhythmia, pericardial friction murmur, diastolic murmur at the tip/regurgitation systolic murmur; mainly ECHO, CT, and MRI.
 * Treatment: surgical removal, but in most cases it is only palliative

Related Pages

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