Skip to main content

Cardiac Tumors

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Practical Textbook of Cardiac CT and MRI
  • 3081 Accesses

Abstract

The prevalence of cardiac tumors is very low, and the majority of cardiac tumors arise from metastasis. The majority of primary cardiac tumor is benign. Transthoracic echocardiography is widely used for initial evaluation or screening, and advances in cardiac imaging – cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging and computed tomography (CT) – provide additional information about the shape, location, and extent of cardiac tumors. CMR imaging, especially, is more advantageous because of its superior spatial resolution and characterization of tumor tissue and enhancement patterns of the tumor using gadolinium agent. In this chapter, we will describe the clinical aspects of cardiac tumors, recommended imaging strategies used in their acquisition, and present selected images of cardiac masses of various etiologies with a review of the imaging characteristics of each tumor type. We will also describe “tumor-like” lesions that can be mistaken as tumors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sparrow PJ, Kurian JB, Jones TR, Sivananthan MU. MR imaging of cardiac tumors. Radiographics. 2005;25:1255–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Choi BW. Cardiovascular tumors. In: Park JH, editor. Cardiovascular imaging. Seoul: Ilchokak; 2008. p. 312–32.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Buckley O, Madan R, Kwong R, Rybicki FJ, Hunsaker A. Cardiac masses, part 1: imaging strategies and technical considerations. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011;197:W837–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kramer CM, Barkhausen J, Flamm SD, Kim RJ, Nagel E. Standardized cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) protocols, society for cardiovascular magnetic resonance: board of trustees task force on standardized protocols. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2008;10:35.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Reynen K. Cardiac myxomas. N Engl J Med. 1995;333:1610–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Grebenc ML, Rosado-de-Christenson ML, Green CE, Burke AP, Galvin JR. Cardiac myxoma: imaging features in 83 patients. Radiographics. 2002;22:673–89.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Grebenc ML, de Christenson Rosado ML, Burke AP, Green CE, Galvin JR. Primary cardiac and pericardial neoplasms: radiologic-pathologic correlation. Radiographics. 2000;20:1073–103; quiz 1110–71, 1112.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Alkadhi H, Leschka S, Hurlimann D, Jenni R, Genoni M, Wildermuth S. Fibroelastoma of the aortic valve. Evaluation with echocardiography and 64-slice CT. Herz. 2005;30:438.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Fujita N, Caputo GR, Higgins CB. Diagnosis and characterization of intracardiac masses by magnetic resonance imaging. Am J Card Imaging. 1994;8:69–80.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Yan AT, Coffey DM, Li Y, et al. Images in cardiovascular medicine. Myocardial fibroma in gorlin syndrome by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Circulation. 2006;114:e376–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Lo LJ, Nucho RC, Allen JW, Rohde RL, Lau FY. Left atrial cardiac hemangioma associated with shortness of breath and palpitations. Ann Thorac Surg. 2002;73:979–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Kamiya H, Ohno M, Iwata H, et al. Cardiac lipoma in the interventricular septum: evaluation by computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Am Heart J. 1990;119:1215–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Fisher MR, Higgins CB, Andereck W. MR imaging of an intrapericardial pheochromocytoma. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 1985;9:1103–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kim EE, Wallace S, Abello R, et al. Malignant cardiac fibrous histiocytomas and angiosarcomas: MR features. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 1989;13:627–32.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Siripornpitak S, Higgins CB. MRI of primary malignant cardiovascular tumors. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 1997;21:462–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Shih WJ, McCullough S, Smith M. Diagnostic imagings for primary cardiac fibrosarcoma. Int J Cardiol. 1993;39:157–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Chaloupka JC, Fishman EK, Siegelman SS. Use of CT in the evaluation of primary cardiac tumors. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 1986;9:132–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Durand E, Vanel D, Mousseaux E, Meingan P, Fornes P, Bittoun J. A recurrent left atrium leiomyosarcoma. Eur Radiol. 1998;8:97–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Dorsay TA, Ho VB, Rovira MJ, Armstrong MA, Brissette MD. Primary cardiac lymphoma: CT and MR findings. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 1993;17:978–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Tada H, Asazuma K, Ohya E, et al. Images in cardiovascular medicine. Primary cardiac B-cell lymphoma. Circulation. 1998;97:220–1.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Heyer CM, Kagel T, Lemburg SP, Bauer TT, Nicolas V. Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum: a prospective study of incidence, imaging findings, and clinical symptoms. Chest. 2003;124:2068–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Weinsaft JW, Kim HW, Shah DJ, et al. Detection of left ventricular thrombus by delayed-enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance prevalence and markers in patients with systolic dysfunction. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:148–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Hong YJ, Hur J, Kim YJ, et al. The usefulness of delayed contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in differentiating cardiac tumors from thrombi in stroke patients. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2011;27 Suppl 1:89–95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tae-Hwan Lim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

1 Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

(AVI 2036 kb)

(AVI 2018 kb)

Video 19.3

(AVI 1859 kb)

(AVI 1387 kb)

(AVI 16105 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kang, JW., Lim, TH. (2015). Cardiac Tumors. In: Lim, TH. (eds) Practical Textbook of Cardiac CT and MRI. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36397-9_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36397-9_19

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36396-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36397-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics