After the heart ultrasound, as soon as you get the report, someone’s heart is racing. Why? The report says there is a tumor on the heart! This is not good, is not the tumor, malignant tumor is not cancer. The other places are fine, but heart problems may kill people in a minute. Even if it is benign, it is scary enough to grow on the heart. The doctor said that the tumor is okay. But the doctor said that the tumor is okay. Obviously, the simple phrase “it’s okay”, many people are still troubled a lot, so let’s start from the beginning to talk about it in detail. A. What does the heart look like A heart ultrasound examines the structure of the heart, which in layman’s terms is to see what the heart looks like inside and out. If the structure of the normal heart is compared to a house, it can be simply summarized as “two rooms and two chambers with eight corridors”. The “atria” are the heart chambers, namely the left and right atria. The “chambers” are the ventricles, i.e., the left and right ventricles. The “eight corridors”: the superior and inferior vena cava are connected to the right atrium, the right ventricle sends the pulmonary artery to the lungs, the four upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right pulmonary veins are connected to the left atrium, and the left ventricle sends the aorta. There are four “doors” inside the house to control the one-way flow of blood: the left atrium opens to the left ventricle with two one-way doors called mitral valves, the right atrium opens to the right ventricle with three one-way doors called tricuspid valves, the left ventricle opens to the aorta with three one-way doors called aortic valves, and the right ventricle opens to the pulmonary artery with three one-way doors called pulmonary valves. The “wall” between the left atrium and the right atrium is called the atrial septum, and the “wall” between the left ventricle and the right ventricle is called the ventricular septum. The thickness of the atrial septum is usually thinnest in the middle of the piece. In some people, if the middle of the septum is relatively loose, the middle of the septum will be found to be bulging from the left atrium to the right atrium when the heart contracts, which is an atrial septal tumor during heart ultrasound. The word “tumor” here does not mean tumor, but rather a protruding object. A septal tumor does not usually cause any adverse effects, so it is okay, so don’t worry. People who have a septal tumor can even be more fortunate. The septum is divided into a muscular part, which is muscle, and a membranous part, which is a white fibrous membrane. During fetal development, the left and right ventricles are originally connected, and the last part of the septum to grow well during growth is the membrane part. If the septum does not grow completely at birth, it is a congenital heart defect called a ventricular septal defect, which is commonly known as a hole in the heart. A hole in the membrane is the most common type of ventricular septal defect. But thankfully, small membranous ventricular septal defects at birth have the potential to heal on their own. The membrane is right on the side of the tricuspid valve, and some of the healing process adheres to parts of the tricuspid valve, causing the membrane septum to bulge from the left ventricle to the right ventricle when the heart contracts. This is called a membranous ventricular septal tumor, which can be interpreted as a product of the natural healing of a membrane septal defect. It is not okay, but beneficial. Third, real tumors Atrial septal bulge tumor and ventricular septal membrane part tumor are not tumors, rest assured, but some people need to be reviewed because there may be atrial septal defect or ventricular septal defect, it is better to see a doctor. Can real tumors grow in the heart? Although heart tumors are rare, I still come across a few cases every year, the most common being mucinous tumors. The most common tumor is mucinous tumor. This kind of tumor, which is basically benign, is usually born on the left atrial side of the interatrial septum, because it is not very dense and can easily break up. It is recommended to remove the tumor as soon as possible. The most common malignant tumors in the heart are rhabdomyosarcoma, mostly in children, and it is rare for adults to have primary malignant tumors of the heart, and very few malignant tumors metastasizing to the heart are encountered clinically. The most important thing is that the heart is not only related to the tumor, but also to the ventricular wall tumor, which is a very serious disease. Many people are familiar with coronary heart disease, the heart beats and pushes the blood flow to the whole body, and itself has to receive blood nourishment through the coronary arteries, if there is a narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries, that is coronary heart disease. If the coronary arteries are suddenly blocked, it may cause a myocardial infarction, and part of the heart muscle will be necrotic. The necrotic myocardium is not contractile, and if the necrosis is extensive, this part will bulge out when the heart contracts, which is a ventricular wall tumor. If we compare the contraction of the heart to supply blood to the whole body to a tug of war, then the ventricular tumor is the bad element that makes the reverse force. Moreover, this bad molecule can disrupt the rhythm of force because ventricular wall tumors often cause ventricular arrhythmias, resulting in irregular heartbeats, which can even lead to sudden death in severe arrhythmias. Although the coronary arteries travel on the surface of the heart and are relatively small, if they become thickened and dilated, they may also be detected on ultrasound. The common causes are Kawasaki disease and coronary artery fistula. Kawasaki disease is a childhood disease that presents with unexplained fever, redness and swelling of the hands and feet, and erythema multiforme, often accompanied by damage to the coronary arteries. Coronary artery fistula is another congenital heart disease in which the coronary artery has an abnormal connection to the atria, ventricles or pulmonary arteries. The aorta emanates from the left ventricle and is the thickest artery in the body. The section near the heart, called the ascending aorta, is also visible on cardiac ultrasound. If it is significantly thicker, it is an aortic aneurysm, because the likelihood of rupture is higher, and rupture in general makes resuscitation slim, so larger aortic aneurysms should be operated promptly, and lesser aortic aneurysms should be reviewed with regular follow-up. Although ventricular wall aneurysms, aortic aneurysms and coronary aneurysms are not tumors, they are indeed conditions that need to be given high priority. The word “aneurysm” is commonly used in medicine and has many meanings. In mucinous tumor and rhabdomyosarcoma, it means a tumor; in septal bulge tumor, septal membrane tumor, and ventricular wall tumor, it means a protruding object; in coronary artery tumor and aortic aneurysm, it means a blood vessel with abnormally thickened diameter. This tumor is not another tumor. If you can’t tell the difference, it’s better to ask your doctor for a professional opinion.