PEDIATRIC CARDIAC TUMORS: ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC IMAGING FEATURES – A PICTORIAL REVIEW

Cardiac tumors (CT) in children are very rare lesions, but their diagnosis is crucial for patient management. Echocardiography is the most used cardiovascular imaging modality in clinical practice for the initial diagnosis of CT in pediatric patients. Knowing the echocardiographic characteristics of CTs can enable an increasingly early diagnosis and the identification of its most likely etiology. Primary CTs are the most frequent in children, with benign ones being the most prevalent. Among benign CTs, the most frequent in fetuses and neonates are rhabdomyomas and teratomas, while in older children, they are rhabdomyomas and fibromas. In this article we describe the echocardiographic characteristics of the main CTs in pediatric ages.