Primary cardiac tumors are extremely rare, occurring in 0.001% to 0.3% of autopsies.1 Most cardiac tumors are metastatic, and they are usually diagnosed in approximately 10% of patients with non-cardiac primary tumors at autopsy.2 3 4 About 75% of primary cardiac tumors are benign and are predominantly myxomas.5 Only 25% of these tumors are malignant, and the most common types in both children and adults, are sarcomas (75%).1 6 7 In a retrospective study done among 255 patients with cardiac tumors in the Philippine Heart Center from 1976 to 2006, the incidence of benign tumors was 91.8% while malignant tumors were reported in 8.2% of cases. Eighty-nine percent of the patients were adults, and 11% were from the pediatric age group.8 As in other similar studies,5 9 the most common cardiac tumors in the Philippine study were myxoma among the adult participants and rhabdomyoma among the pediatric participants.
Heart Neoplasms ; Cardiac Surgical Procedures