Cardiac tumors

Cardiac tumors are divided into primary and secondary tumors. Primary tumors can be benign (75% of cases) or malignant.  Secondary tumors are usually metastatic in nature.

Myxoma accounts for 50% of all benign cardiac tumors in adults and 15% in children. Myxoma development is often sporadic, more typical for female patients. In 5% of patients myxoma has a familial character, based on autosomal dominant inheritance. Myxoma can develop in any chamber of the heart, but more often it is localized in the left atrium (75%).

Surgical technique

Removal of the tumor is the only effective treatment.

Myxoma    Left atrium	Right atrium

Secondary metastatic tumors

In malignant tumors of various localizations, metastases affect the heart or pericardium in 10% of patients. The most frequent route of metastasis for melanoma, sarcoma, and bronchogenic carcinoma is the hematogenous route through the coronary arteries. Surgical treatment of these patients is limited to pericardial drainage via subxiphoid access or pericardial fenestration via left-sided thoracotomy to prevent cardiac tamponade.