TUMORS OF THE HEART AND PERICARDIUM

TLDR

Heart and pericardial tumors are rare, often asymptomatic, but can cause cardiac dysfunction or failure, making accurate diagnosis clinically relevant. The article presents a comprehensive review of cardiac tumors to raise clinician awareness. Only one primary cardiac tumor and a few metastatic lesions have been diagnosed during life, and the review suggests that earlier suspicion could have led to earlier detection.

Abstract

Tumors of the heart and pericardium, both primary and secondary, are rare. Most of them are asymptomatic and are, therefore, of interest only to the pathologist. Some, however, are the cause of cardiac dysfunction or even failure, and are thus of some concern to the clinician. Only once has a primary tumor of the heart been diagnosed during life and only a few times, a metastatic lesion. A review of the clinical history of some of the cases on record shows that occasionally a neoplasm might have been suspected had the clinician borne this possibility in mind. There is something intensely satisfying in diagnosing correctly a rare lesion, and it is hoped that this article will impress its readers so that they will be on the alert to recognize the condition should it happen to come under their observation. I shall attempt a comprehensive but not complete review of the