Primary heart tumors in infancy and childhood. Report of four cases and review of literature.

Primary heart tumors are rare. The findings in 4 children with heart tumors are reported: a rhabdomyosarcoma, a rhabdomyoma, a fibroma and a myxoma. The symptoms depend upon the location (intrapericardial, intramural or intracavitary). ECG and X-ray provide no essential diagnostic information; echocardiography can give a decisive diagnostic indication in parietal and intracavitary tumors. Surgery provides a specimen for histology, but the tumor cannot always be removed. The prognosis, therefore, depends upon the result of surgery, but malignant tumors, mostly being diagnosed too late, have a very bad prognosis.