Magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of cardiac tumor characteristics in infants and children

Characterization of Cardiac Tumors in Children by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging

“…Therefore, the experience of individual centers is relatively small. Case reports and small case series have suggested that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is useful in the delineation of the location, extent, and signal characteristics of cardiac tumors and masses in children (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). On the basis of our initial experience with 11 cases and a review of the published data, we developed cardiac MRI-based diagnostic criteria that predict tumor type (4).…”

MRI of cardiac rhabdomyoma in the fetus

“…Primary cardiac tumors are rare findings in childhood with a reported incidence of 0.0017 to 0.027% [3] as well as in utero with a reported incidence of 0.009 [4] to 0.17% [5]. Beghetti and coworkers [6] reported an increase in recognition of cardiac tumors in children over a 15-year period from 0.06 to 0.32%.…”

Pediatric Cardiac MRI

“…Malignant cardiac tumors are rare, but must always be considered in the differential diagnosis. MRI has only limited specificity for identifying the likely tissue type of the tumor in children (Kiaffas et al 2002), but is ideally suited for the noninvasive evaluation of tumor size, location, number, and relationship to adjacent structures (Hoffmann et al 2003). MRI also helps in distinguishing cardiac tumors from tumor-like conditions , including pericardial cysts, lipomatous hypertrophy of the atrial septum, thrombi, and sarcoidosis.…”