Surgical Treatment of Cardiac Tumors: A Single-Center Experience

Abstract – Objectives – Cardiac tumors affect fewer than 1 in 2000 people. This study is a retrospective review of diagnostic procedures, surgical management, and outcomes in patients treated for tumors of the heart at our institution. We compare our management approaches, clinical, and surgical outcomes with those reported in the literature. Methods – The study population includes patients 7 to 79 years old who presented to our institution for tumors of the heart from July 2004 to January 2023. With institutional review board approval, subjects for this study were identified by searching the hospital’s database on Current Procedural Terminology codes for tumors of the heart (benign neoplasm of the heart or malignant tumor). All of the data were stored on REDCap. Results – There were 23 men and 29 women in the patient group. The average patient age was 54 years old. The most common presentation symptoms were dyspnea and fatigue. The most common diagnosis methods were transthoracic echocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiogram, cardiac magnetic resonance image, and computed tomography scan. Operative treatment was offered to 52 people; 47 had resection and 5 had biopsy only. The most common postoperative complication was respiratory insufficiency (22) and sepsis (2). Forty-eight patients were diagnosed as having a benign neoplasm of the heart and 4 diagnosed as having a malignant tumor. There were 49 primary tumors and three secondary tumors. The most common location of the tumor was the left atrium. The most common diagnosed cell type for the cardiac tumors was myxoma (61.5%). The average length of stay in the hospital was 12.5 days. Thirty-nine patients were discharged home in a stable condition. The study population had one operative mortality (death within 30 days after surgery). Forty-four of the 52 patients treated are alive after 2 years. Conclusions – Data from this study strongly suggest that surgical removal is a viable and largely successful treatment approach for cardiac tumors. Clinical outcomes such as discharge status, postoperative condition, and length of survival after procedures are similar to those from other referral centers for such conditions. Complete resection was possible in 90% of our study cases; 85% of patients in this study surgically treated for cardiac tumors are alive after 2 years.