Clinical classification of cardiovascular tumors and tumor-like lesions, and its incidences

Abstract

Tumors of the heart and the great vessels are very rare disease, and there are many disorders such as tumors originated from the heart and great vessels, metastatic tumors, and tumor-like lesions which do not fit into the usual concept of tumor or neoplasm; thus, it is very difficult to classify these tumors. We proposed a new classification of cardiovascular tumors for clinical use based on the accumulated biological analyses and clinical data of the reported literatures and our own study as benign tumors, malignant tumors, ectopic hyperplasia/ectopic tumors/others, and tumors of great vessels, with reference to the series of Atlas of tumor pathology of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the recent World Health Organization classification of cardiac tumors issued in 2004. More than 50 disorders have been reported as tumors originated from the cardiovascular system, and various metastatic tumors from nearby organs, distant lesions, and intravascular extension tumors to the heart were reported. Based on the new classification, we reviewed epidemiology and incidence of cardiovascular tumors. Metastatic tumors are more frequent than tumors originated from the heart and great vessels, and cardiac myxoma is the most frequent tumors in all cardiac tumors.

Clinical Study of Cardiac Tumors - Myxoma in a Government Tertiary Hospital

“…They are often found attached to the atrial septum and mitral valve apparatus in the left atrium (>85%) [5]. Similar findings (7.1%) were reported by Amano et al [6]. Patients diagnosed with myxoma were more common in female when compared to male.…”

Rare Case of Hamartoma Mimicking Fibroma and Correlations with Literature

“…With the advent of extracorporeal circulation and the advancement of diagnostic medicine such as echocardiography (ECHO), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diagnosis and surgical treatment became more feasible [4][5][6]. However, few are the literary findings on the incidence and prevalence of HA, that is, after a systematic review of the present study, only 74 scientific papers on HA was found of 245 of the total on cardiac tumors.…”

“…In general, cardiac tumors can produce common effects and symptoms, such as obstructions, since atrial tumors can impede blood flow through the atrioventricular valves and mimic valvular stenoses [4]. Already in ventricular cavities they can cause obstructions to the exit routes, attending with symptoms of the type thoracic pain, dyspnea or syncope [4,9,17].…”

“…Already in ventricular cavities they can cause obstructions to the exit routes, attending with symptoms of the type thoracic pain, dyspnea or syncope [4,9,17]. Another problem is embolisations, small and multiple emboli can originate from the tumors themselves or by thrombi of their surroundings, mimicking vasculitis or endocarditis, and the larger ones may evolve with occlusive events such as stroke [1,14,17].…”

Atrial Metastatic Tumor: Transthoracic and Transesophageal Echocardiograph Imaging

“…Metastases to the heart were found in 1.23% of 12,485 consecutive autopsies, compared with a 0.056% prevalence of primary cardiac tumors [1]. In autopsies where a malignant neoplasm was identified, cardiac metastases were found in 9.7%-10.7% of cases [4][5][6][7]. Noncardiac tumors may invade the heart and pericardium by means of lymphatic or hematogenous dissemination, local extension, or transvenously.…”