[Secondary tumors of the heart (based on autopsy materials in the Oncology Research Center of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR over the period of 1960-1977)].

The autopsy material of the USSR AMS Cancer Research Center for 1960--1977 was studied. Among 3327 patients dying of malignant tumours, secondary tumour involvement of the heart was revealed in 170 (5.1%) cases, in 119 patients the tumour metastasized into the heart, in 51 grew into the pericardium. Most frequently, tumour involvement of the heart occurred in lung cancer, systemic diseases of the hemopoietic tissue, melanoma, and mammary gland carcinoma. Growth of the tumour into the heart, as a rule, was found in systemic diseases and lung cancer. Melanoma, renal carcinoma, and carcinoma of the oral cavity were characterized by small- and large-nodular forms of metastasis. The tumour involvement was most frequently found in the pericardium followed by the myocardium. In outgrowths of the tumour, the outer layer of the pericardium and in small-nodular metastases the visceral layer (epicardium) were affected most frequently. Hemorrhagic pericarditis was frequently observed in tumour alterations of the heart. Metastases and outgrowths into the heart were always associated with progression of the tumour.