Neoplasms involving the heart, their simulators,
and adverse consequences of their therapy

William Clifford Roberts, MD

From the Baylor Heart and Vascular Center and the Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, and Department of Pathology, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

Corresponding author: William C. Roberts, MD, Baylor Heart and Vascular Center, Baylor University Medical Center, 3500 Gaston Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75246 (e-mail: wc.roberts@baylorhealth.edu).

Primary cardiac tumors involving the heart may be either benign or malignant. Most of the benign tumors are myxomas, which are most commonly located in the left atrium. Primary malignant neoplasms usually involve the myocardium and the interior of the cardiac cavities, whereas neoplasms metastatic to the heart most commonly involve pericardium, and pericardial effusion and constriction are the most common consequences. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are becoming the most useful instruments of precision for the diagnosis of cardiac tumors. Pericardial cysts, teratomas, lipomatous hypertrophy of the atrial septum, papillary fibroelastomas, thrombi, and sarcoid are frequently mistaken for cardiac neoplasms. There are a number of cardiac consequences of malignancy, including radiation heart disease, cardiac hemorrhages, cardiac infection, cardiac adiposity or the corticosteroid-treated heart, cardiac hemosiderosis, and toxicity due to anthracycline chemotherapy. (BUMC Proceedings 2001;14:358-376)