Methods
We retrospectively analyzed clinical, echocardiographic, and
pathohistological findings of all consecutive adult patients (≥18 years
of age) referred to our Department of Cardiology for suspected CM
between 2005 and 2020.
All patients had TTE performed as part of the standard diagnostic
workup. Echocardiographic characteristics of the cardiac mass were
obtained, including mass location, surface (smooth or lobulated vs.
villous) and appearance (homogenous vs. heterogenous). The mobility of
the mass and the presence or absence of obstruction were also noted.
Based on TTE findings, patients were diagnosed with either CM, other
non-myxomal (NM) cardiac tumor, or cardiac masses of other etiology
(thrombus, infective endocarditis, etc.). Diagnosis of CM was made
individually by the cardiologist performing TTE based on typical
morphological characteristics of the cardiac mass. In some cases,
additional imaging methods were used, either due to poor TTE acoustic
windows or atypical tumor presentation. TTE contrast imaging was not
performed in any of the cases.
Patients with CM or NM cardiac tumors were referred for surgery and
pathohistological samples of the tumors were collected and analyzed to
determine the final diagnosis. The accuracy, sensitivity, and
specificity of TTE were determined by comparing echocardiographic and
pathohistological diagnosis. Furthermore, echocardiographic
characteristics of pathohistologically proven CM were compared to NM
cardiac tumors. The study was approved by the national ethics committee
and it has been carried out in accordance with the Declaration of
Helsinki.