Tumors of the heart.

Two thirds of primary tumors of the heart are benign, and half of the benign tumors are myxomas. Metastatic tumors of the heart are 20 to 40 times more common than primary tumors. Metastatic tumors originate mainly in melanomas, leukemias/lymphomas, and carcinomas, especially of the lung or breast. The parts of the heart affected, in decreasing order of frequency, are the pericardium, myocardium, and endocardium. The clinical diagnosis is suggested by a patient with cancer and a normal heart who develops any kind of heart disease that is progressive and unresponsive to the usual methods of treatment. Irradiation, percardiocentesis, and injection with chemotherapeutic agents are effective in ameliorating symptoms from lymphomas/leukemias of the heart and in pericardial effusions due to malignant disease.