Cardiac tumors risk factors

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Dheeraj Makkar, M.D.[2]

Overview

There are no direct risk factors for cardiac tumors. Most of them are sporadic but some are associated with certain syndromes and can be congenital.

There are no established risk factors for Cardiac tumors. But HIV predisposes to formation of Kaposi Sarcoma of heart.^[1]
Certain syndromes like Gorlin syndrome, Tuberous Sclerosis, LAMB, NAME, and Paragangliomas are associated with increased risk of cardiac tumors.^[2]
The presence of lung carcinoma, breast carcinoma, esophageal carcinoma, malignant lymphoma, malignant melanoma, and leukemia are risk factors for secondary cardiac tumors due to their propensity to spread to the heart. Renal Cell Carcinoma spreads to heart mainly via Inferior Vena Cava.^[3]
- Malignant Melanoma has the most significant predisposition for hematogenous spread to the heart among all the tumors.^[3]

There are definitive risk factors influencing the prognosis of patients afflicted with cardiac tumors.
- The independent risk factors associated with poor prognosis of cardiac tumors include, conservative management, malignant nature of tumor, and ”biatrial” tumors.^[4]
- It is also important to note that features like age, sex, NYHA grading, leg edema, and peripheral embolism do not affect the longevity of patients with cardiac tumors. ^[4]

↑ Ghosn J, Taiwo B, Seedat S, Autran B, Katlama C (2018). “HIV”. Lancet. 392 (10148): 685–697. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31311-4. PMID 30049419.
↑ Lee E, Mahani MG, Lu JC, Dorfman AL, Srinivasan A, Agarwal PP (2018). “Primary cardiac tumors associated with genetic syndromes: a comprehensive review”. Pediatr Radiol. 48 (2): 156–164. doi:10.1007/s00247-017-4027-2. PMID 29214333.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Reynen K, Köckeritz U, Strasser RH (2004). “Metastases to the heart”. Ann Oncol. 15 (3): 375–81. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdh086. PMID 14998838.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Maimaitiaili A, Zhang WM, Guo YZ, Elmaik D, Tang NH, Zhang ZG (2019). “Survival of Patients with Primary Cardiac Tumors in an 11-Year Single Center Study”. Heart Surg Forum. 22 (2): E097–E102. doi:10.1532/hsf.2271. PMID 31013217.