Objective: To summarize the experiences in surgical treatment of cardiac tumors.
Methods: The results of surgical treatment of 494 patients with cardiac tumors hospitalized from 1975 to 2004, aged 43 +/- 16 (4 months to 78 years), 432 with myxoma, 27 with benign nonmyxoma, and 35 with malignant tumors, were analyzed.
Results: Complete resection of malignant tumor was achieved in 10 cases (28.6%), and subtotal resection was achieved in 15 cases (42.9%). or partial resection was performed based on the intra-operative condition. Only biopsy was performed in 10 patients (28.6%) because of extensive metastasis of tumor. Hospital death occurred in 11 myxoma patients (2.5%), and 3 malignant tumor patients (8.6%), and none of the benign non-myxoma tumor patients. The patients were followed up for 70 +/- 36 months with a follow-up rate of 92.9%. Late follow-up was performed for the 241 patients with myxoma who had underwent resection after 1990. Seventeen patients were lost to follow-up. There were 10 late deaths, 5 resulting from recurrence and 5 from unknown causes. Follow-up for malignant tumors showed 18 (51.4%) late deaths because of recurrence or metastasis, occurring 2 months to 2 years after operation.
Conclusion: Excellent immediate and long-term operative results can be obtained for benign cardiac tumors. However, for the patients with malignant tumors the survival chances are dismal.