Cardiac metastases

The authors found metastases to the heart in 10.7% of 1029 autopsy cases in which a malignant neoplasm was diagnosed. The lung was the commonest primary site (36.4%) and adenocarcinoma was the most frequent cell type (36.4%) of neoplasms metastatic to heart. Nonepithelial tumors accounted for 22.7% of cardiac metastases. Epicardium was involved in 75.5% of metastatic lesions and a pericardial effusion was present with 33.7% of epicardial metastases. Although hemorrhagic effusions occurred in only 12 cases with metastases to heart, these represented 76.4% of all such effusions. Lymphomas associated with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome showed the most extensive cardiac involvement. Primary sites and cell types of cardiac metastases have evolved over time and have been modified by chemotherapy, increased survival of cancer patients, increasing incidence of lung carcinoma, and recently by the acquired immune deficiency syndrome epidemic.