On the rare occasion that primary cardiac tumors occur, about 75 percent are benign and 25 percent are malignant, and about 75 percent of the malignant tumors are sarcoma. Most cardiac surgeons and cardiologists will have minimal experience with primary cardiac malignancy.

In an expert analysis, Monika Jacqueline Leja, MD, FACC, editorial team lead of the Cardio-Oncology Clinical Topic Collection, and Michael J. Reardon, MD, FACC, summarize their experience with the evaluation and treatment of primary malignant cardiac tumors.

Because primary cardiac sarcoma is such a rare and deadly disease, they used a multidisciplinary approach to all primary cardiac sarcomas with careful evaluation for local tumor extent as well as metastatic involvement. Read more on ACC.org.