PRIMARY SARCOMA OF THE PERICARDIUM

Abstract

The heart is but rarely the site of a primary neoplasm, and it seldom becomes involved by metastatic malignant tumors. It is therefore of unusual interest to both clinicians and pathologists when a tumor involving this structure is discovered. Lymburner,¹ in a review of 8,550 necropsies, found 4 cases of primary tumor of the heart and 52 cases of secondary metastatic lesions of the heart. In a review of the literature,² he found reports of 226 instances of primary cardiac tumors. In a review of the subject in 1931, Yater³ found records of 46 instances of primary sarcoma of the heart. Additional cases have been reported by Morris,⁴ Barnes and his associates,⁵ Boman⁶ and Willius⁷ and from the Massachusetts General Hospital.⁸ Only 11 of these were cases of primary sarcoma of the pericardium. The majority of primary tumors of the heart are benign. About 25 per cent are malignant. The