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by WHITE BEAR on March 9th, 2006

WHITE BEAR

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Is there such a thing as heart cancer?

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  • by Alatea on March 10th, 2006

    Alatea

    Yes. However, heart cancer is extremely rare. The vast majority of heart tumors are noncancerous (benign). A 20-year review of 12,487 consecutive autopsies in Hong Kong identified only seven cases of cardiac tumor — an incidence of less than 0.1 percent — most of which were benign. Benign tumors of the heart include myxomas, fibromas, rhabdomyomas and hamartomas. Cancerous (malignant) tumors of the heart are most often sarcomas. Occasionally, cancer can spread to the heart, such as from lymphomas that originate in the structures of the chest near the heart. Other cancers that can spread to the heart include melanomas and sarcomas. Treatment of heart tumors is surgical removal.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-cancer/AN01288

    Cancer of the heart muscle called angiosarcoma do occur but are rare and occur more often in children and more often in the right side of the heart. Cancers like melanoma are known to spread to the heart. That being said, it is somewhat curious why certain tissues are less susceptible to cancer. This is typically ascribed to the belief that the more cells that are actively dividing in an organ or tissue the less likely that organ or tissue will have a cancer arise in it. So skin, intestine and bone marrow which have high populations of dividing cells are more often to have a cancer arise in their cells than the heart whose muscle tissue is essentially non-dividing.

    http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/mole00/mole00484.htm
    http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/h/heart_cancer/basics.htm

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