Primary chondrosarcomatous mesenchymoma of the mitral valve.

Despite the oft-quoted assertion that the heart is an organ too noble to be attacked by a primary tumour (de Senac, 1783), such neoplasms are being reported with increasing frequency. While these primary tumours may occur in any part of the heart they are least frequent on the valves and most common in the atria (Rucks, Russell, and Motley, 1963). We report a very unusual primary malignant heart tumour, a mixed mesenchymal sarcoma, largely chondrosarcomatous in structure, arising in the region of the mitral valve, probably from papillary muscle.