Cardiac tumors that cause arrhythmias

Our plain-English summary of Cardiac tumors that cause arrhythmias, by K.F. Kusano, T. Ohe (Cardiac Electrophysiology Review, 2002).

The study

• Authors: K.F. Kusano, T. Ohe
• Journal: Cardiac Electrophysiology Review
• Published: 2002;6(1-2):174-7
• Cited by: 36 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

This review, by two cardiologists at Okayama University Medical School in Japan, described primary cardiac tumors that cause arrhythmias. The authors noted that primary cardiac tumors are rare, found in 0.0017% to 0.28% of autopsy cases. About 80% are benign. Myxoma is the most common benign tumor in adults, and rhabdomyoma predominates in infants and children. They stated that atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia caused by a cardiac tumor. Tachyarrhythmias are often seen with rhabdomyoma and fibroma. Bradyarrhythmias are often seen with lipomatous hypertrophy of the atrial septum and with mesothelioma of the A-V node, through damage to the A-V node. The review summarized these tumors, and also lipoma, myxoma, hamartoma and hemangioma, covering location, typical arrhythmias and treatment. For fibroma, sudden death was reported in up to 30% of patients, and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator was suggested in some cases. Mesothelioma of the A-V node was described as a small tumor that frequently causes death by complete A-V block and ventricular arrhythmias. Pacemaker implantation was reported not to have prevented sudden death. Illustrative cases included a 78-year-old woman with a 9.0 cm fibroma and a 22-year-old man with cardiac lipoma, both with ventricular tachycardia. The authors concluded that cardiac tumors, though rare, can cause life-threatening arrhythmias, and that early diagnosis is important because most are curable by surgery.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This article by Kusano and Ohe was a short review, not an original study, of primary tumors of the heart that cause abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Citing earlier literature, the authors reported that primary cardiac tumors were found in only 0.0017% to 0.28% of autopsy cases and that about 80% are benign. They described rhabdomyoma, fibroma, lipomatous hypertrophy of the atrial septum, lipoma, mesothelioma of the A-V node, myxoma, hamartoma and hemangioma. The authors listed mesothelioma of the A-V node among benign tumors. They described it as usually less than 15 mm across and said it frequently causes death by complete A-V block and ventricular arrhythmias. Mesothelioma was also named among quite rare primary malignant heart tumors. Two patients with ventricular tachycardia were illustrated: a 78-year-old woman with a 9.0 cm fibroma and a 22-year-old man with a cardiac lipoma. The authors concluded that cardiac tumors are rare but sometimes cause life-threatening arrhythmias, and that early diagnosis is very important in symptomatic patients. The article does not mention asbestos.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review
• Who was studied: Published literature on primary cardiac tumors that cause arrhythmias, plus two illustrative patients shown in figures: a 78-year-old woman with a fibroma and a 22-year-old man with a cardiac lipoma
• Main results:
  • Citing earlier literature, the review reported that primary cardiac tumors were detected in 0.0017% to 0.28% of autopsy cases.
  • About 80% of primary cardiac tumors are benign.
  • Mesothelioma of the A-V node was listed among benign tumors in adults.
  • Mesotheliomas of the A-V node are usually less than 15 mm in size.
  • Mesotheliomas of the A-V node frequently cause death by complete A-V block and ventricular arrhythmias.
  • The authors noted reports that implanting a pacemaker for A-V block did not prevent sudden death in this tumor.
  • Mesothelioma was also listed among primary malignant cardiac tumors that have been reported but are quite rare.
  • In patients with fibroma, sudden death may occur in up to 30%.
  • Atrial fibrillation may develop in about 15% of cases of left atrial myxoma.
  • Illustrative case: a 22-year-old man with a cardiac lipoma had ventricular tachycardia at 230 per minute.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that cardiac tumors are rare but sometimes cause life-threatening arrhythmias, and that early diagnosis is very important in symptomatic patients.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Autopsy, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Surgical pathology of primary cardiac and pericardial tumors — C. Basso, M. Valente, et al. (1997)
• Primary tumors and cysts of the heart and pericardium — H.A. McAllister (1979)
• Primary cardiac tumors: experience at the University of Minnesota — J.E. Molina, J.E. Edwards, et al. (1990)
• Unusual primary tumors of the heart — T.J. Vander Salm (2000)
• Surgery for primary intrapericardial tumors in adults — S. Taguchi, R. Yozu (2013)
• Malignant primary cardiac tumors. The Cleveland Clinic experience, 1956 to 1986 — P.A. Bear, D.S. Moodie (1987)

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