Surgical Treatment of Primary Cardiac Tumors

Abstract

During a 16-year period from 1980 to 1996, 101 patients with primary cardiac tumors underwent surgery at the 1st Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, which represented 2.44% of 4142 open-heart surgical cases during this period. Most tumors were benign; 94 were myxomas, 2 were fibromas, and 1 was a hemangioma. Three myxomas were in the right atrium and 91 were in the left atrium. The 4 malignant tumors comprised 2 mesothelioma, 1 histiocytoma, and 1 right atrial malignant myxoma. All benign tumors were completely excised with 4.95% mortality. Only 1 malignant tumor was completely excised. In our experience, the long-term result of surgical treatment of benign cardiac tumors is excellent, whereas the prognosis for patients with malignant cardiac tumors is very poor. The incidence of malignant tumors was lower than in other studies.