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Cardiac Tumors: Clinical Presentation, Diagnosis, and Management

  • Cardio-oncology (MG Fradley, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Opinion statement

Cardiac masses and tumors are a heterogenous group of disorders and include primary tumors (both benign and malignant), metastatic disease, and numerous masquerades such as thrombus. Clinical presentation ranges from incidental discovery on imaging tests ordered for other reasons to life-threatening presentations such as cardiac tamponade, arrhythmia, obstruction, and systemic embolization. Of the available imaging modalities, cardiac MRI is generally the most useful for assessment and helps to delineate the relevant anatomy. Due to the technical difficulties and risk of biopsy of cardiac masses, a presumptive diagnosis is typically made using imaging techniques with surgery serving both a diagnostic and curative role. Because these conditions can vary widely in their management, we recommend early involvement of a multidisciplinary group which should include a cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, and oncologist.

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Author notes

  1. Timothy J. Poterucha and Jonathan Kochav contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Columbia University Medical Center, 161 Fort Washington Avenue, Suite 6-647, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Timothy J. Poterucha MD, Jonathan Kochav MD, Daniel S. O’Connor MD, PhD & Gregg F. Rosner MD

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  1. Timothy J. Poterucha MD
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  2. Jonathan Kochav MD
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Correspondence to Gregg F. Rosner MD.

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Timothy J. Poterucha owns a stock in Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, Inc.

Jonathan Kochav declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Daniel S. O’Connor declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Gregg F. Rosner declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Poterucha, T.J., Kochav, J., O’Connor, D.S. et al. Cardiac Tumors: Clinical Presentation, Diagnosis, and Management. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 20, 66 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-019-0662-1

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