Key result
Primary cardiac tumors are predominantly benign myxomas, but right-sided tumors are more likely to be sarcomas, as myxomas arise from the right side in only 5% of cases.
This letter highlights the epidemiological rarity of right-sided cardiac myxomas compared to sarcomas and metastatic tumors.
To the Editor: Metastatic tumors that invade the heart occur 20 to 40 times more frequently than primary tumors. Of the primary cardiac tumors, 75 percent are benign, and of these benign tumors, myxomas are the most common. The remaining primary cardiac tumors are malignant, the overwhelming majority of which are sarcomas. Cardiac sarcomas arise from the right side of the heart in 25 percent of reported cases, whereas myxomas arise from right-sided cardiac structures in only 5 percent of cases.1–4 Thus, an intracavitary tumor that obstructs the right ventricular outflow tract is about 300 times more likely to . . .
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Gopal et al. (2000) conducted a letter in Cardiac tumors. Primary cardiac tumors are predominantly benign myxomas, but right-sided tumors are more likely to be sarcomas, as myxomas arise from the right side in only 5% of cases.
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