Korean J Med.
2010 Sep;79(3):271-276.
Clinical experience with primary cardiac tumors
- Affiliations
-
- 1Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yeungnam University Hospital, Daegu, Korea. grhong@med.yu.ac.kr
- 2Department of Internal Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
- 3Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keimyung University College of Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center, Daegu, Korea.
- 4Division of Cardiology, Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea.
- 5Dongguk University Gyeongju Hospital, Gyeongju, Korea.
- 6Department of Cardiology, Fatima General Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
Abstract
- BACKGROUND/AIMS
In Korea, few studies have examined primary cardiac tumors, which have a reported incidence of 0.0017~0.19% in autopsy series. This study surveyed the status of primary cardiac tumors over the past 7 years in one region.
METHODS
A retrospective review examined all patients with primary cardiac tumors, except for confirmed thrombus, using hospital medical records from 2000 to 2006 at six community hospitals. Identified cases undergoing biopsy and surgery were selected for the study.
RESULTS
The operative mortality was 7.7%. Of the 71 patients (26 males) with identified primary cardiac tumors, 65 (91.5%) tumors were benign and 6 (8.5%) were malignant. The benign tumors were myxoma (78.9%), rhabdomyoma (4.2%), fibroelastoma (2.8%), fibroma (1.4%), and leiomyoma (1.4%). Two of the myxomas were present at multiple locations. The malignant tumors included sarcomas (67%) and lymphomas (33%). Most of the tumors were located in the left atrium (76%). The majority of patients presented with chest pain and dyspnea. During follow-up for an average of 26.8+/-21.3 months, all but one patient with benign tumors was alive; one myxoma patient died perioperatively (1.5%). Four of the patients with malignant tumors (67%) died.
CONCLUSIONS
Cardiac myxomas and sarcomas were the most common primary benign and malignant tumors, respectively. Benign tumors had excellent postoperative survival rates, while malignant tumors had high mortality.
