Imaging procedures in the detection of cardiac tumors, with emphasis on echocardiography: a review.

Although cardiac tumors are relatively rare, their diagnosis is important because successful treatment is usually feasible if the diagnosis is made preoperatively. An analysis of 219 reports of cardiac tumors described in the English literature from 1972 through 1977 demonstrated the predominance of benign tumors, in particular myxoma, which is in agreement with past reviews. The methods of diagnosis employed included plain chest films, echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, angiocardiography, and cardiac scintigraphy. Conventional x-ray examination of the chest was abnormal in 83% of cardiac tumors but non-specific and should lead to further evaluation, first by echocardiography. Echocardiography, the most efficient diagnostic procedure for screening possible cardiac tumors, was abnormal in 94% of the cases. Cardiac catheterization was abnormal in 80% of cardiac tumors while definitive detection was made by angiocardiography in 94% of the cases. Cardiac scintigraphy has had limited use in the diagnosis of cardiac tumors, but has been diagnostic in 100% of the cases in a small series of myxomas.