Benign cardiac tumors: a review.

Tumors of the heart are very uncommon and can occur as primary or secondary metastatic tumors. Metastatic tumors are over 40 times more common than primary cardiac tumors. Primary tumors of the heart are benign in 75% of cases and malignant in 25%. We first reported our institutional experience with all primary cardiac tumors in 2003. Of the 85 patients seen, 17 had malignant tumors (20%) and 68 had benign tumors (80%). These benign tumors and our subsequent experience form the basis of this report.