Surgical treatment of primary cardiac tumors - 28 years' experience in Kanazawa University Hospital

To examine the clinical features of primary cardiac tumors, 34 patients who underwent surgical treatment from 1973 to 2000 at the Kanazawa University Hospital were analyzed and the literature was reviewed. The 34 patients wer e divided into 3 categories: (i) myxomas; (ii) benign non-myxomas; and (iii ) malignant tumors. Twenty-three patients (70%) were diagnosed with myxomas , including 22 left atrial myxomas and 1 right atrial myxoma. Seven patient s (18%) were diagnosed with benign non-myxoma tumors, including 3 hemangiom as, 1 fibroma, 1 rhabdomyoma, I pheochromocytoma, and 1 lipoma. Four patien ts (12%) were diagnosed with malignant tumors, including 2 angiosarcomas, I rhabdomyosarcoma, and 1 malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Among the myxoma p atients, in-hospital mortality was 9% (2/23), late mortality was 10% (2/21) , and no recurrent myxomas have been identified. Among benign non-myxoma pa tients there were no perioperative deaths; however, 1 patient died 11 years after surgery, with no linked cause. No recurrent tumors have been identif ied. Among malignant tumor patients, 1 patient died the day following surge ry and the rest died within 14 months. Early and late results of surgery we re acceptable for those patients with benign tumors, while the prognosis fo r patients with malignant tumors was very poor.