A 12-year Experience with Primary Cardiac Tumors

We report our experience with 117 patients with primary cardiac tumors who underwent surgery at our institute (a referral center) between March 1995 and February 2006. The patients comprised 47 men and 70 women with a mean age of 44.97 years (range: 2.5- 81 years). The predominant symptom was dyspnea on exertion and palpitation. In all the patients, echocardiography was the main diagnostic tool, but magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT scan and coronary angiography were also performed if indicated. Most of the tumors were found in the left atrium (LA) (77.77%), but the other chambers were also involved with lesser prevalence (right atrium: 7.5%, left ventricle: 5.1%, and right ventricle: 2.5%). Involvement of multiple chambers was found in 8 (6.8%) patients. All the patients survived the surgical procedure and were discharged from hospital. Follow-up ranged from 1-10 years (mean: 2.4 years). The most prevalent tumor was myxoma (104 cases), followed by sarcoma (4 cases) and fibroma (2 cases). Four patients had secondary (metastatic) cardiac tumors (two Hodgkin lymphoma, one renal cell carcinoma, and one osteosarcoma) and were consequently excluded from the study.