Prognostic Factors for Long-Term Survival after Surgical Resection of Primary Cardiac Sarcoma

Primary cardiac sarcoma (CS) is an extremely rare disease. This study aims to identify possible prognostic factors for long-term survival.

A total of 17 consecutive patients who were treated for primary CS between 2003 und 2018 at two cardiac centers were investigated. Clinical data and histological characteristics of the tumors were analyzed. Long-term follow-up of all patients were performed.

The median age was 54 years (range: 23-74). The tumors originated from the left side of the heart in nine patients. Histologically, there were four angiosarcomas, three intimal sarcomas, and three synovial sarcomas. One- and 7-year survivals were 81.9 and 18.2%, respectively. Low expression levels of K_i-67 tended to be associated with increased survival (log-rank p = 0.06). Adjuvant chemotherapy but not radiotherapy regardless of existing metastases was associated with significantly increased survival (log-rank p = 0.001).

Angiosarcoma was the most common type of CS. The survival of CS patients is poor but prognostic factors, such as K_i-67, may help estimate the course of the disease. Survival could be improved significantly with chemotherapy.