Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of mortality. Heart cancer is a poorly understood and life-threatening disease. Recent studies have found how common and unsafe these diseases are.
Which tumor is a health hazard?
Tumors of the heart are extremely rare. There are primary heart tumors that are produced by the heart tissue itself: they are benign in about 75% of cases. About 25% are malignant.
There are also secondary, malignant tumors that grow into the heart in the form of metastases - lung or breast cancer. Secondary tumors are much more common than primary tumors.
The most common benign primary heart tumor is myxoma - a spherical, mobile structure that occurs mainly in the left atrium. Very rare malignant primary heart tumors are sarcomas. The most dangerous is any type of neoplasm, since it disrupts the activity of the heart.
About ¾ of all neoplasms of the heart have a benign nature; they rarely form metastases. However, any type of neoplasm of the heart muscle is dangerous to the health of the patient.
Malignant neoplasm disrupts the function of the cardiovascular system. Sometimes parts of the tumor can burst and cause a sudden blockage of blood vessels. Malignant tumors are usually removed using surgical instruments after identification.
Tumors of the heart are extremely rare.
Primary heart tumors are very rare and almost always benign. In humans, autopsy showed primary heart tumors in 0.056% of the examined. In 77% of cases, these are benign and less life-threatening neoplasms.
The remaining 23% of benign tumors are life-threatening. Very rarely, malignant sarcoma (angiosarcoma) can occur.
In domestic dogs, data on the incidence of primary heart tumors range from 0.12 to 4.33%. Hemangiosarcomas prevail here, hemodectomas, neurofibrosarcomas and rhabdomyosarcomas are very rare. They also have these dangerous diseases relatively rare.
What symptoms do you need to see a doctor with?
Excessive fatigue, heart failure, dizziness, and headache are possible symptoms of heart cancer. If the disorders persist for a long time, you need to visit your doctor.
Timely detection of the disease plays a key role in the treatment of heart cancer. A visit to the doctor should not be postponed, because untimely therapy is fraught with dangerous complications.
In general, heart tumors can cause arrhythmia, stenosis of the heart valves, heart attacks, when the openings of the coronary vessels are open. Sometimes there is acute circulatory failure with sudden death.
How are dangerous tumors treated?
There are no benign tumors in the heart, because the components or blood clots that lie on it can cause thromboembolism. Blood clots, in turn, can lead to a stroke or acute circulatory disorders of the legs or hands. Surgical removal of the tumor is always recommended.
Malignant tumors are usually detected by ultrasound of the heart (echocardiography).
Further quantification of the tumor can be carried out using computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.
MRI and CT help determine the exact location of the tumor. To determine the malignancy or benignness of the tissue can only histological examination. Before such a procedure, cardiac catheterization is performed, which provides more information about the type of tumor and its location.
In the area of the heart valves, doctors then remove all the tumors with safe and effective surgical methods.
Access to the desired tissue requires only a small incision on the right side wall of the chest.
With the help of the camera system, which is inserted into the chest, the areas around the mitral and trisplid valves can be seen even better.
