Epidemiological and pathological characteristics of cardiac tumors: a clinical study of 242 cases

The purpose of this study was to review the current clinical experience and pathological characteristics of cardiac tumors. We retrospectively reviewed 33,108 consecutive cases of cardiac operations performed at our institution from October 1996 to March 2005. There were 242 cases confirmed histologically as cardiac tumors. Among them, 234 patients were diagnosed with primary heart tumors, revealing a prevalence of 0.71% among the corresponding period cardiac operations. Of primary cardiac tumors, the incidence of benign neoplasm was much higher than malignant masses (90.6% vs. 9.4%, P<0.01). The most common benign cardiac tumor was myxoma (86.8%). Mesenchymoma and angiosarcoma were the most common primary malignant cardiac tumors. The prevalence rates of cardiac tumors were quite different among age groups. Rhabdomyoma and fibroma are prone to children. The number of female patients with myxoma was higher than that in male (P<0.01). Myxomas have a special predilection for the left atrium (93.5%). Benign non-myxoma tumors are more likely to occur in the ventricular (64.3%). The primary malignant tumors have a tendency to be of multi-center origination (23%). All the secondary cardiac tumors were located in the right side of the heart. This study, using a relatively large sample, reveals the clinical incidences and pathological characteristics of various cardiac tumors in the Chinese population.