Purpose: Pediatric cardiac malignancies are exceedingly rare. We sought to examine demographics, presentation, and outcomes for this pathology.
Methods: The SEER registry from 1973 to 2008 was queried for all patients <20 years of age with cardiac malignancies.
Results: A total of 25 pediatric patients were identified with primary cardiac malignancies, with age-adjusted incidence of 0.00686 per 100,000 United States population. Median age at diagnosis was 10 years. The majority of patients were adolescent (n = 13, 52 %), Caucasian (n = 17, 68 %) and males (n = 14, 56 %). The most common histology was soft tissue sarcoma (n = 10, 40%), followed by non-Hodgkin lymphoma and teratoma (both n = 3, 12 %). Six patients presented with distant disease. More than half of patients (n = 16, 64 %) underwent surgical resection, while four patients (16 %) underwent radiation. The mean survival time for the cohort was 47 ± 67 months, with 14 (56 %) patients dying over the study period. Lymphomas had significantly longer survival than other malignancies (108 ± 66 vs. 36 ± 66, p = 0.03), while lack of surgical treatment was associated with worse survival (p = 0.016).
Conclusions: Primary malignant cardiac tumors are exceedingly rare in pediatric patients. They are most commonly soft tissue sarcomas and lymphomas demonstrated longer survival.