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 formation on the heart valves.

Cardiac Myxoma
In 80% of cases, it is located in the left atrium, in 15% of the cases in the right atrium. The remaining 5% are 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


 * Diagnostics
 * 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 the 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, and/or syncope (when the tumor is located in left atrium); extracardiac metastases (lung, mediastinum, spine, etc.); prognosis is very poor (about 3 months of life).
 * 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

 * Heart tumors