Primary cardiac tumors
Primary cardiac tumors are uncommon and comprise only a small minority of all tumors that involve the heart: most are mediastinal or lung tumors that extend through the pericardium and into the heart, or metastases 1.
Epidemiology
Primary cardiac tumors have an estimated autopsy prevalence of 0.001-0.03% 2.
Pathology
Primary cardiac tumors can then be divided into:
-
benign cardiac tumors: 60-75% 1,4
- cardiac myxoma: most common in adults
- cardiac lipoma (≈10% 4, second most common in adults 6)
- cardiac rhabdomyoma: most common in children
- papillary fibroelastoma
- cardiac fibroma
- cardiac hemangioma
- cardiac paraganglioma
- pericardial teratoma (can rapidly grow despite being benign) 7,8
-
malignant cardiac tumors
-
sarcomas account for 25% of all cardiac tumors 2,6
- cardiac angiosarcoma: most common malignant primary cardiac tumor 3,9
- undifferentiated sarcoma of the heart
- cardiac leiomyosarcoma
- cardiac spindle cell sarcoma
- cardiac fibrosarcoma
- cardiac liposarcoma
- primary cardiac osteosarcoma: 3-9% of primary cardiac malignant tumors 9
- malignant fibrous histiocytoma of heart
- cardiac hemangiopericytoma
- primary cardiac lymphoma
- pericardial mesothelioma
-
sarcomas account for 25% of all cardiac tumors 2,6