Regarding the prevalence of cardiac tumours:
A. The secondary to primary ratio is approximately 10:1Cardiac tumours have a prevalence rate of 0.056% for primaries and 1.23% for secondaries, with an approximate ratio of secondary to primary of 20:1 (Lam KY). The University of Padua has reported on an extensive post mortem series, which described 210 primary cardiac tumours, of which 89% were benign and 11% malignant. In this series, papillary fibroelastoma was the second most common benign primary cardiac tumour after atrial myxoma (Basso C).
Lung carcinoma is the most common metastatic cardiac tumour (approximately 33%). Lymphoma and leukaemia (16%) are the second most common followed by breast (5%), hepatic (5%), and kidney (4%) carcinomas.
Atrial myxoma is a benign disease that does not metastasize. It typically presents with constitutional, obstructive, or embolic symptoms. In the primary benign cardiac tumours, there is a female predominance of 1.4:1. The mean age is 47 years.