ABSTRACT
Cardiac masses comprise thrombi and cardiac tumors, with thrombi occurring much more commonly. Cardiac tumors are rare, but, there is an increased frequency for the diagnosis of cardiac tumors with clinical imaging techniques. The signs and symptoms produced by cardiac masses are largely non-specific and resemble those produced by other forms of heart disease. The diagnosis of a cardiac mass is usually made as a coincidental finding on a standard imaging technique such as echocardiography during a general cardiac work-up, CT scanning, MRI, or rarely during cardiac catheterization. Except in rare cases, the diagnosis of a cardiac mass is not entertained unless the diagnosis of cancer has been established or when a cardiac source of embolus is suspected. In our laboratories, echocardiography is frequently requested to rule out cardiac source of embolus, and when transthoracic echocardiography does not yield a diagnosis, transesophageal echocardiography is undertaken as the next step, especially when the transthoracic imaging is not optimal.
