QUESTION :
Why do people not get
cancer in the heart?
Cancer does occur in the heart, but very rarely. Tumours are classified as benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous). Malignant tumours are further classified as primary tumours (arising from an organ) and secondary tumours (spread from other organs by direct extension (or) by tumour particles carried through blood and/or lymphatic stream and get deposited in new organs.). Cardiac tumours can arise from the wall of the heart chambers and also from the heart muscle.
Analytical studies show that 72 per cent of heart tumours are benign and the remaining 28 per cent are malignant. Commonly occuring benign tumours of the heart are: myxoma (40.8 per cent), lipoma (14.1 per cent), fibroelastoma (13.2 per cent), Rhabdomyoma (11.3 per cent), fibroma (5.3 per cent), and heamangioma (4.7 per cent). Common malignant tumours are: angiosarcoma (31.2 per cent), Rhabdomyosarcoma (20.8 per cent), mesothelioma (15.2 per cent), fibrosarcoma (11.2 per cent) and lymphoma (5.6 per cent).
Secondary malignant tumours can spread through the blood stream to the heart from the kidneys, uterus, stomach, colon and lungs. Direct extension of the tumours from the lung to the heart can also occur.
After complete removal of the benign tumours under open heart surgery, the cure rate is almost 100 per cent, whereas the success rate is limited in malignant tumours depending upon further spread of this tumour to other vital organs.
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