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Various disorders of heart such as heart attack or heart failure may be quite common for the layman. However, what about cancer of the heart? If indeed there is this disease?
Don't get me wrong, the heart as a vital organ can be affected by cancer like other organs. In fact, this disease is actually very lethal, although rarely found. So, what is cancer of the heart and how could this happen? See the full review here.
What is cancer of the heart?
Cancer of the heart known as cardiac tumors primary, that is cancer that develops in the organs of the heart as the center of the body. Cancer of the heart include a very rare case. Reporting from the center for health research Mayo Clinic, the average incidence is found only one case in one year.
The cause of cardiac cancer is not yet known for certain. However, like most cancer in general, cancer begins from changes in a cell that undergoes cleavage by a normal. Then for this case, the abnormal cells that occurs in heart cells.
Signs and symptoms of cancer of the heart
Initially, cardiac cancer often does not cause any symptoms. However, when it reaches the advanced stage, symptoms similar to the symptoms of the disease of heart failure, in which:
- Chest pain
- Irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias)
- Shortness of breath
- Swelling in the feet and ankles
- A sense of anxiety and overwhelming fatigue
- Fluid buildup in the lungs
These symptoms started when tumors that small are experiencing the breakdown. The fragments of such tumors will then form a clot that is blocking the flow in the blood vessels (embolism). If these clots move towards the heart and clog blood vessels near the heart, then it will cause pain in the chest (angina).
How this disease can appear?
Lung cancer can develop in any part of the heart (the primary). Although seen rarely, most types of cancer that are found on the heart comes from the other part of the body before eventually spread to the heart of the (secondary).
For example, lung cancer starts from the development of abnormal cells in the lungs that then spreads to the heart or the lining around the heart (pericardial sac). Meanwhile, another cancer that could affect the heart are breast cancer, kidney cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and melanoma. This is caused because cancer cells in the organs that come flowing through blood vessels and spread to the heart.
Most of the primary tumors that occur in the heart are benign, for example sarcoma or a type of cancer derived from the soft tissues of the body. While cardiac tumors which develop into cancer is only about 25 percent.
In adults, a cancer of the heart malignant the most common is an angiosarcoma, namely cancers that tend to develop in the upper chamber of the right heart (atrium) and is derived from the blood vessels. An angiosarcoma occurs when clots cancer cells managed to get into the atrium of the heart and spread to adjacent organs with the heart.
Treatment of cancer of the heart
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When the doctor suspects the development of tumors in the heart, You will be required to undergo a number of tests, including:
- MRI, scanner which utilizes a magnetic field and radio wave energy to display the image of the structure of the organs in the body.
- Echokardiogram, a procedure that uses high frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to look at heart function and structure heart.
- ECG (electrocardiogram), a test that records the electrical activity in the heart.
For the treatment of cancer of the heart itself is done right general cancer such as chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy. The main focus of this treatment is how cancer can be cured permanently or at least reduce the symptoms.
Unfortunately, the ways this could have an impact on the performance of the heart. Generally, the heart damage is reversible or can be fixed and cured. However, in some cases, damage to other heart are permanent and cannot be cured.
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