Malignant primary cardiac tumors: review of a single institution experience.
BACKGROUND
Primary cardiac sarcomas are uncommon. The authors undertook to review the Mayo Clinic's experience with primary cardiac sarcomas consisting of 34 patients seen over a 32-year period.


METHODS
The patient database at the Mayo Clinic was searched to identify patients with malignant tumors of the heart seen during the 32-year period between 1975 and 2007. Thirty-four patients with primary cardiac sarcomas were identified and their medical records reviewed for details pertaining to presenting symptoms, staging modalities, treatment approaches, and outcomes.


RESULTS
Of the 34 patients, 17 were men and 17 were women. The median age was 44 years. The mean duration of symptoms at the time of diagnosis was 3.6 months. The most common histologic type was angiosarcoma (41%). The median follow-up for the entire group was 12 months (range, 0-61 months). The median survival for those who underwent a complete surgical excision was 17 months compared with 6 months for those in whom a surgical complete remission could not be achieved (P = .01). Patients with angiosarcoma had a lower survival compared with patients with other histologies (5 months vs 17 months; P = .01). The median survival of patients with metastatic disease was 5 months versus 15 months in patients without metastatic disease (P = .03 by the log-rank test).


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiac sarcomas remain a rare but lethal disease. Compared with extracardiac sarcomas, the prognosis for patients with cardiac sarcomas remains very poor. A complete surgical excision should be performed if possible. Innovative treatment strategies are required.
Simpson
Lijo
L
Division of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Kumar
Shaji K
SK
Okuno
Scott H
SH
Schaff
Hartzell V
HV
Porrata
Luis F
LF
Buckner
Jan C
JC
Moynihan
Timothy J
TJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome