Imaging of Cardiac Masses: An Updated Overview.

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Radiology
• Pathology

Background:

• Cardiac masses present a diagnostic challenge for clinicians.
• Accurate identification is crucial for appropriate patient management.
• Multimodality imaging plays a key role in cardiac mass evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review modern imaging modalities for cardiac masses.
• To discuss the most frequent benign and malignant cardiac tumors.
• To differentiate non-tumoral masses and normal variants.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on cardiac mass imaging.
• Discussion of ultrasound, cardiac CT, and cardiac MRI applications.
• Emphasis on differential diagnosis and recognizing normal variants.

Main Results:

• Benign masses (myxoma, papillary fibroelastoma, rhabdomyoma, lipoma, hemangioma) and malignant masses (angiosarcoma, metastases) are characterized.
• Non-tumoral masses (cysts, caseous formations, thrombi, vegetations) are differentiated.
• Imaging features aiding in distinguishing masses from normal variants are presented.

Conclusions:

• Modern cardiovascular imaging tools are essential for accurate cardiac mass diagnosis.
• A systematic approach integrating imaging findings is key.
• Distinguishing true masses from normal variants prevents misdiagnosis and unnecessary interventions.