A 63-year-old woman underwent surgical operations for left lower lung cance
r and for thyroid cancer. Nine months later, a third cancer developed in he
r heart and this tumor was removed by open heart surgery. A pathologic stud
y revealed that the tumor was primary leiomyosarcoma of the heart and thus
independent from the previous lung and thyroid carcinomas. This case was re
garded as a triple carcinoma including a primary leiomyosarcoma arising fro
m the left atrium. Reports in the literature on primary malignant tumors of
the heart are reviewed briefly.