[Cardiac tumors. I. General considerations. Benign primary tumors]

With the widespread use of echocardiography, cardiac tumors are no longer a rare disease. They are increasingly being diagnosed and surgically treated. In this review we present a practical classification of heart tumors, most common symptoms, diagnostic methods and guidelines for surgical treatment. Benign cardiac tumors are described specially in reference to pathology and surgical treatment. Cardiac myxomas are more extensively deal with.