Minimally invasive resection of benign cardiac tumors

Primary cardiac tumours for which surgical resection is the main stay of treatment are rare and present both diagnostic and management challenges. The majority of patients are asymptomatic and one third of those who have symptoms present with vague constitutional symptoms which further complicates the process of early diagnosis. The current state-of-the art multi-modality imaging, routine use of intra-operative transoesophageal echocardiogram (TOE) in most cardiac centres and the tremendous advances of endoscopic adjuncts greatly enhances both the diagnosis and management of those group of patients. The surgical burden of median sternotomy and the contemporary trend towards less invasive surgery urged the necessity for adopting minimally invasive surgery in general and cardiac tumours are no exception. Despite the rarity of theses tumours, minimally invasive resection is successful in the hands of experienced minimally invasive surgeons who employ the same minimal access valve surgery platform to access the tumours in various cardiac chambers and valves with no compromise to the oncological clearance and hence achieve the benefits of minimally invasive surgery without compromising long term outcomes.