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Heart cancer is very rare. It results from a heart tumor like angiosarcoma or another cancer that spreads to your heart. Cancer can spread to your heart from your lungs, breasts or kidneys, or even through your blood. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery shrink or remove heart tumors, ease symptoms and may prolong your life.
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Heart cancer occurs when diseased cells grow out of control on or near your heart. These cells form a tumor. Cancer can begin in your heart (primary heart cancer) or spread there from somewhere else (secondary heart cancer).
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Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
You may have thought cancer couldn’t affect your heart. Maybe it took a little while to get the right diagnosis. That’s because heart cancer isn’t common.
Primary heart cancer is extremely rare. But the most common one in adults is angiosarcoma, a rare type of malignant (cancerous) soft tissue tumor. Other subtypes of sarcoma cancerous tumors can also happen in your heart and great vessels (aorta and pulmonary arteries).
Heart cancer more commonly occurs when cancer cells spread to your heart from cancer in a nearby organ. For example, lung cancer may spread to your heart, causing secondary heart cancer. Cancer that spreads is metastatic cancer.
Secondary heart cancer is 30 to 40 times more likely than cancer that starts in the heart. Metastatic cancer can spread to your heart from your breast, esophagus, skin, lungs and kidneys. It can also spread from cancers of the thymus gland (which lies in your chest) or from the blood (leukemia) and lymphatic system (lymphoma).
Primary heart cancer affects fewer than 2 out of 100,000 people every year. Cardiac tumors are rare. Almost 9 out of 10 primary heart tumors are benign (not cancer).
Your heart contains connective tissue and muscle cells that don’t renew themselves very fast. This makes them very resistant to becoming cancerous. Cancer cells grow and multiply more vigorously in epithelial tissue. This kind of tissue tends to turn over more quickly and so is more susceptible to a mutation (error in replication) occurring that can lead to cancer.
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Epithelial tissue lines most organs. Breasts also have this tissue. For this reason, cancer more commonly affects tissue in the breasts and organs like the colon, pancreas, lungs and skin.
Sudden, unexplained heart failure is a top sign of heart cancer. You may experience shortness of breath and extreme fatigue if the tumor is pressing on a chamber of your heart. This can also happen if the tumor is growing within your heart and affecting how well a valve works.
Other heart cancer symptoms include:
Some people don’t have signs of heart cancer until it’s advanced.
Primary heart cancer can spread to other parts of your body. It most commonly spreads to your nervous system, like your spinal cord or brain. It can also travel to your lungs. Symptoms of heart cancer that spreads include:
The cause of angiosarcoma is unknown, although exposure to radiation and some toxins may play a role.
Angiosarcomas of the heart sometimes affect multiple members of the same biological family. Scientists believe that certain people are more prone to this primary heart cancer because of their genes, but we’re still learning about the genetic basis of most of these cancers.
The cause may be related to a mutation (change) in a gene called protection of telomeres protein 1 (POT1). A parent with this gene mutation can pass it to their biological children.
Anyone can get cancer of the heart. The disease is more likely to affect people assigned male at birth (AMAB) who are ages 30 to 50. But they only get this cancer slightly more often than people assigned female at birth (AFAB). People who smoke or have AIDS may be more at risk but the data is limited.
Heart cancer affects your heart function. It can lead to a host of potentially life-threatening problems. With a heart tumor, you have a higher risk of having a heart attack, stroke or severe heart failure.
Small pieces of a heart tumor can break free and travel through your bloodstream. These pieces can lodge in a blood vessel, causing a blood clot. This can lead to a stroke if it goes to your brain or serious respiratory problems if it goes to your lungs (pulmonary embolism).
If cancer in the heart is near a heart valve, it can make it hard for a valve to work. This gets in the way of blood going where it needs to go. Heart cancer near your conduction system can cause issues with your heart rhythm.
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Heart cancer can affect the pericardium, the sac that surrounds your heart. Inflammation (pericarditis) can result. Your healthcare provider may need to use a catheter (long, thin tube) to drain excess fluid and ease pressure on your heart. This procedure is a pericardiocentesis. A provider may send the cells in the fluid for diagnostic analysis.
Because cancer of the heart is so rare, healthcare providers may misdiagnose the cause of heart problems. In people with heart cancer, providers often find the tumor while looking for the cause of heart issues. You may get one or more of these tests:
Chemotherapy or radiation therapy (or a combination of both) can sometimes shrink a heart tumor and relieve symptoms. If another cancer spreads to your heart, your healthcare provider will treat that primary cancer.
Other treatment depends on the tumor’s location and size, as well as factors like your overall health and age. Surgery to remove the tumor may be an option. This can prolong your life if a surgeon can remove the tumor completely. These operations can be very complex. It’s best to have them at a specialty center. In some cases, surgeons will remove your heart, operate on it and then put it back in. This is an autotransplantation. A machine pumps your blood during this surgery, like in some other heart surgeries.
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A heart transplant or artificial heart are options in some cases.
You may also be able to join a clinical trial to try promising new therapies still in development. Researchers continue to look for better ways to detect this disease early, refine current treatments and find new ones.
No. There isn’t a cure for heart cancer at this time.
Complications or side effects of the most common treatments for heart cancer may include:
Heart cancer is difficult to treat. After treatment, it often returns (recurs) and may spread to other parts of your body.
The average life expectancy after a heart cancer diagnosis is about six months without surgical treatment. People can live more than a year when surgery is possible. In some cases, people may survive several years after a complete removal (resection) of the tumor.
For primary heart tumors, the heart cancer survival rate is 50% for the first year, then drops to 24% for the third year and 19% for the fifth year. Secondary heart cancer has a poor prognosis (outlook), as well.
You should call your healthcare provider if you experience:
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You may want to ask your healthcare provider:
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Receiving a challenging diagnosis can turn your life upside-down. Yet it may give you clarity about what’s most important to you. Treatment can ease your symptoms and make you feel more comfortable. But you may find that talking with a counselor helps you deal with the emotions that come with a difficult diagnosis. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need when people express a desire to help in some way. They may not know how best to help you but are looking for a way.
Last reviewed on 08/12/2024.
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