Cardiac masses: Experience from a Turkish tertiary center of cardiology

Objective Cardiac masses comprise a category that includes benign, malignant, and nontumoral mass lesions. The present study aims to share the findings relating to cardiac masses observed at our tertiary cardiology hospital in Turkey. Methods The records of patients who presented with cardiac masses and underwent surgery at our institute between 2006 and 2015, and whose tissue samples were sent to a pathology laboratory, were retrospectively reviewed in a consecutive manner. Results The study included 228 patients with an average age of 52.5 ± 17.3 years. Of the study’s subjects, 95 (41.7%) were male and 133 (58.3%) female. The most commonly observed mass was myxoma in 68 patients (29.8%), of whom 20 (29.4%) were male and 48 (70.6%) female. The second most frequently detected mass was pannus, with 38 cases (16.7%) – 10 (26.3%) in males and 28 (73.7%) in females. The third most common cardiac mass was thrombus (16.2%), with 18 cases of thrombi in men (48.6%) and 19 (51.4%) in women. Conclusion The most commonly observed cardiac mass was myxoma and most were localized in the left atrium. The second most frequently detected mass was pannus, which was mostly found on mitral mechanical prosthetic valves. Thrombi were the third most prevalent mass and were commonly localized in the right atrium.