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Primary
tumours of the heart (excluding cysts and pericardial tumours) are very
rare.
Three quarters of the tumors are benign.
Before 1951,
the diagnosis of intracardiac tumours was
made only at postmortem examination; in that year the diagnosis
of an intracavitary left atrial tumor was confirmed by
angiocardiography.
The introduction of
echocardiography has greatly facilitated the antemortem
diagnosis of cardiac tumours. Supplemental
diagnostic imaging methods include computed tomography (CT)
and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Their nature and distribution
of cardiac tumours according to age is shown below:
[
Ref:
1) Tumors of the
Heart and Great Vessels. Washington, DC: Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology; 1996. Atlas of Tumor Pathology; 3rd series, fascicle 16.
2)
Primary cardiac and pericardial neoplasms:
radiologic-pathologic correlation.Radiographics.
2000 Jul-Aug;20(4):1073-103; quiz 1110-1, 1112.
3)Primary
cardiac tumors. Ann Surg
1980;191:127-138 ]
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