| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2001 | Volume
: 2
| Issue : 2 | Page : 63-68 |
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Surgical and pathology findings of primary malignanst cardiac tumors: An eleven year experience(*)
Salvatore Esposito1, Lucio Agozzino1, Manuela Agozzino1, Franco Covino1, Pasquale Sante1, Flavio Cerasuolo1, Attilio Renzulli2, Mourizio Cotrufo1
1 Department of Pathology, 2nd University of Naples, Naples, Italy
2 Department of Cardiothoracic Sciences, V. Monaldi Hospital, Naples, Italy
Correspondence Address:
Attilio Renzulli
Via Aquila 144, 80143 Naples
Italy
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
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Progress in cardiac imaging techniques allowed earlier diagnosis of malignant cardiac tumors. Between January 1978 and June 1999, 75 cases of primary heart tumours were surgically excised, 8 of them (10.67%) were malignant. They came from 4 males and 4 females, and with age ranging from 3 weeks to 70 years (mean 29); 3 tumours came from 3 infants (<1 year); the others developed in adult patients. All patients survived the surgical excision but died during the follow-up period. The histotypes were: 3 rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS), 2 malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH), 1 immature malignant intrapericardial teratoma, 1 fibrosarcoma and 1 mesothelioma. Among the 3 RMS, 2 were pleomorphic RMS (in the adult patients), located respectively in both atria and in the left ventricle and infiltrating the anterior papillary muscle; one (in a newborn) was an embryonal RMS of the anterior left ventricular wall spreading in the pericardium. MFH recurred twice in both patients; one patient died of post-operative complications after the second recurrence while the other patient died of heart failure 84 months after the first surgery. Also immature malignant intrapericardial teratoma recurred 2 months after the surgery; the newborn died of post-operative complications such as the newborn with fibrosarcoma. The mesothelioma occurred in an adult patient who died 5 months after the surgery.
Despite complete surgical resection, which is initially successful, recurrence of tumor occurs and late mortality is still very high (100%). Our experience over a ten-year period confirms: a) the difficult differential diagnosis between primary sarcomas of the heart with other masses including secondary tumours and b) the relatively low incidence of heart malignancies in adults (10.95%) versus a higher incidence in childhood (37.5%).
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