Intrinsic and Extrinsic Cardiac Pseudotumors: Echocardiographic Evaluation and Review of the Literature

Echocardiography is the most common imaging modality for the assessment of cardiovascular tumors, followed by more advanced imaging modalities, such as cardiac computed tomography or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Non-neoplastic lesions that may simulate a true neoplasm on imaging are termed “cardiac pseudotumors.” As echocardiography is the initial imaging modality where pseudotumors are identified, it is imperative to have a fundamental understanding of pseudotumors evaluation using echocardiography. There is paucity of the literature describing the different kinds of pseudotumors. This review is an attempt to describe common cardiac pseudotumors and to classify them based on their origin. The tumors arising from cardiac structures, such as epicardium, endocardium, or myocardium, were termed as “intrinsic” while the pseudotumors with no cardiac origin were termed as “extrinsic.” The more common pseudotumors are described in detail with pertinent echocardiographic features and examples.