The heart is an organ that is responsible for blood supply and oxygen supply to the whole body, any failure in its work has a very serious effect on the general condition of a person.
Causes
Malignant tumors in the heart are quite rare. Some scientists explain this by the fact that this organ is heavily supplied with blood and its cells are not subject to division. The heart is in a constant working rhythm, and metabolic processes in it occur quickly, but, nevertheless, sometimes a tumor is found in it.
A neoplasm in the heart can appear as a result of poor environmental conditions, the use of low-quality food with the presence of carcinogens, the presence of bad habits, and hereditary characteristics of the body. Experts believe that factors such as atherosclerosis and a tendency to form blood clots can also cause the development of heart cancer. Quite often, malignancy occurs in the myxoma that has appeared in the heart – a benign neoplasm, the cause of which is most often a heart operation or a traumatic injury to the chest. Most often, heart cancer develops in people of either sex between the ages of 30 and 50 years.
Types of heart cancer
There are two types of cancer that affect the heart muscle. This is primary, which develops directly from mutated heart tissues (occur in 25% of cases), and secondary, while another organ serves as the focus of the tumor, and the heart is affected by outgoing metastases.
The most common primary oncological degeneration of cells in the heart is sarcoma. It is characterized by damage to the right parts of the organ with compression of large vessels. Her growth is very fast, with characteristic metastases to the brain, nearby lymph nodes, and lungs. Angiosarcoma is most often diagnosed, less often – fibrosarcoma or rhabdomyosarcoma. And it is extremely rare to find such primary tumors of the heart as lymphoma or mesothelioma.
Most often, secondary cancer occurs in the form of metastases from the lungs or mammary gland, kidneys or thyroid gland, this indicates a far advanced process in these organs and its severity. The occurrence of metastases in the heart occurs by the lymphogenous or hematogenous route, and sometimes due to direct germination from damaged neighboring organs.
Symptoms of heart cancer
Diagnosis of the disease at any stage of development can be difficult, since no particularly characteristic signs are found for it. In any case, with an increase in signs of heart failure (arrhythmia, shortness of breath, chest pain) and the appearance of general symptoms of cancer intoxication (weight loss, increasing weakness, pain in the body, constant temperature, liver enlargement), measures should be taken immediately.
Symptoms of such a disease are often combined with signs of damage to the nervous system (paralysis or paresis, convulsions, loss of consciousness). However, with heart cancer, symptoms can grow so rapidly that a person does not have time to get help in a timely manner.
Clinically, the symptoms of cancerous lesions of the heart depend on the size and location of the tumor and are disguised as other diseases – myocarditis, pericarditis, coronary disease, and others.
Secondary cancer in the form of metastases in the heart occurs against the background of typical signs of the underlying disease. There are, however, cases when the first clinical sign of another tumor is a metastatic lesion of the heart muscle.
Diagnostics
For the correct diagnosis of oncological heart disease, the whole complex of measures is used, including the study of the history of the onset of the disease (anamnesis), the clinical picture, laboratory and instrumental methods:
Listening to heart sounds can reveal the appearance of various noises characteristic of valve damage.
In the blood test, a decrease in hemoglobin and platelets, an increase in ESR, C-reactive protein, and leukocytes are determined.
An ECG can show an increase in the heart, a violation of the rhythm and conduction function, and in some leads – a decrease in voltage.
EchoCG helps to determine the size of the formation, its localization and the presence of fluid in the pericardial cavity.
A more detailed study of the tumor can be obtained with an MRI or CT scan.
The study of the biopsy of the neoplasm and the composition of the fluid in the pericardium help to definitively establish the diagnosis.
Masking in the primary stages of heart cancer under other diseases makes it very difficult to detect it in time. The most common pathology – sarcoma grows so rapidly that in most cases it ends in death. Therefore, despite modern methods, heart cancer leads to the death of a person 6–12 months after its detection.
Heart Cancer Treatment
Symptomatic treatment for a diagnosis such as heart cancer may include systemic chemotherapy using cytostatics and radiation (gamma therapy). This allows you to slow down the growth of the tumor and prevent its further spread. After carrying out such procedures, subject to the timely detection of the disease, the patient’s life can be extended for up to 5 years.
At the moment, there are treatment methods in which the effect on degenerate cells is maximum, and healthy tissues are not affected. This is brachytherapy. It consists in placing radioactive particles directly into the thickness of the tumor growth. And the gamma knife is currently considered the most accurate and safest way. This is a type of contact radiation therapy, carried out using a special high-precision apparatus.
In progressive clinics of the world, when a primary tumor of the heart is detected, it is surgically removed. To do this, a heart-lung machine is connected to the patient, and the affected area is excised, followed by suturing. If the lesion affects large areas of the heart muscle and valvular apparatus, then a heart transplant is performed. Sometimes a larger operation is performed, and the heart is transplanted along with the lungs.