BACKGROUND We hypothesize that for the excision of benign cardiac masses, a minimally invasive approach through a right minithoracotomy is safe and feasible, and has lower resource utilization when compared with a standard median sternotomy. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 39 consecutive patients who underwent benign cardiac mass excision at our institution between December 1999 and April...

In the study presented here, we aimed to describe the epidemiological, clinical and pathological findings of 51 canine cases with histologically-verified diagnoses of primary cardiac hemangiosarcoma (HSA). The medical data for each dog, including signalment, presenting complaints, physical examination findings, results of various diagnostic testing performed and method of treatment, were checke...

Metastatic cardiac tumours are the most common malignant cardiac tumours. In the early stages they are usually asymptomatic, but their consequences can be very serious, and the prognosis is poor. We present a patient with recurrent renal cell carcinoma as a tumour of the right atrium and the vena cava inferior in whom cancerous masses were removed with simultaneously coronary artery bypass-graf...

Methods Over a 7 year period, 161 patients were referred for CMR for evaluation of a known or suspected cardiac mass. A retrospective chart review of these 161 patients revealed that 42 patients (26%) had subsequent biopsyproven diagnosis of a cardiac mass. CMR characteristics of biopsy proven cardiac masses, including contrast enhancement on first pass and delayed images, signal intensity on T...

BACKGROUND Contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) allows high spatial and temporal resolution imaging of cardiac, thoracic, and abdominal structures. Accurate determination of the cause of pericardial effusion (PE) is essential to providing appropriate treatment and prognosis. Echocardiography and pericardial fluid analysis may not differentiate between causes of PE and cann...

Hiatus hernia is a common medical condition. An elderly woman being investigated for dyspnoea of unknown aetiology had a transthoracic echocardiogram as part of her investigations. This alarmingly demonstrated a large left atrial mass. Further assessment with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large hiatus hernia compressing the left atrium and no intra-cardiac mass. The case succinc...

The current report describes a case of a primary cardiac lymphoma. For early and appropriate treatment of a cardiac mass it is not only important to determine its localization and extension but also to differentiate between malignant and benign lesions. This report demonstrates that not only transthoracic echocardiography but also the other different forms of echocardiography such as transesoph...

Cardiac tumors represent a relatively rare, yet challenging diagnosis. Echocardiography is the main diagnostic tool for the detection of a cardiac tumor. We report a case of congenital giant intra-cardiac tumor, in which echocardiography revealed a large well-defined hyperechoic homogenous intracardiac mass involving interventricular septum which mimicked like asymmetrical septal hypertrophic p...

Cardiac masses are discovered occasionally. They are represented by thrombi, vegetations and tumors, primary or metastatic. The most frequent cardiac tumor is myxoma. The coincidence of pregnancy and a primary cardiac tumor is extremely rare. Only a few case reports of heart tumors during pregnancy are presented in the literature. The case of a young woman with the initial echocardiographic dia...