title: Primary malignant tumors of the heart: Outcomes of the surgical treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malignant cardiac tumors are rare and have an extremely poor prognosis even when complete resection is attempted. The aim of this study was to review the experience of primary malignant cardiac tumors in 2 Italian academic hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  The hospital records were searched to identify patients with primary malignant cardiac tumors who underwent surgery between January 1979 and December 2012. Secondary cardiac tumors, whether metastatic or invasive, were excluded as were primary sarcomas of the great arteries. Fourteen patients selected from our institution's surgical series were identified. Eleven (78.6%) were men and 3 (21.4%) were women, and the mean age at surgery was 47.4 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common histological type was angiosarcoma (28.6%). The mean survival was 28.8 ± 28 months and it was better in men than in women (30.5 ± 8.7 vs. 21.1 ± 3.2 months). Patients with a radical resection at the first surgery had a longer survival compared to patients with a partial resection (39.9 ± 23.2 vs. 24 ± 4 months).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The treatment outcome for patients affected by primary malignant heart tumors remains poor. Aggressive surgery alone does not provide good results in terms of survival rate. A new multidisciplinary approach is mandatory to improve long-term survival.
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Department, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy dav.pacini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pacini
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and GUCH Unit, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Careddu
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Department, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pantaleo
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Department, Monzino Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parolari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Ornella
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Department, Monzino Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daprati
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and GUCH Unit, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Gaetano Domenico
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Gargiulo
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Department, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Bartolomeo
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cardiovascular surgical procedures; Heart neoplasms; Leiomyosarcoma; Lymphoma; Sarcoma; Survival; non-Hodgkin