Malignant cardiac tumors: diagnosis and treatment.

Primary malignant cardiac tumors are represented by sarcomas and non-Hodgkin lymphomas. They are rare, affect mostly patients in the fourth decade of life and have a severe prognosis. Both the diagnosis and the treatment require a multidisciplinary approach, and the cardiologist plays a central role both in the diagnosis and in the follow-up. The prognosis may be improved by a careful planning of surgery and by the use of multimodality treatment, including complementary chemotherapy and radiation therapy. A strict follow-up must be planned even after apparently complete cure.