Dawaa Reference

Clinical reference

Cardiovascular neoplasm of uncertain behaviour

Treatment options, dosing, cautions and Egyptian brands from the shipped Dawaa Reference card.

Evidence status

Checked against the sources named below

Sources3 sources

ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class KD25.02 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care · StatPearls - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430685/

Verified against1 document
  • No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care

Verified date2026-08

Presentation reference

Is it this?

Reference only, to read alongside your own examination.

Symptoms — what the patient reports (4)

  • Symptoms tend to be vague and creeping, which delays both diagnosis and surgery
  • Presentations include valve failure, pericardial effusion with tamponade, blocked flow inside the heart, arrhythmia and heart failure [arrhythmia]
  • A growing share cause nothing at all and turn up by chance
  • What shows up depends on tumour size, where it sits, how fast it grows and how far it invades

Tests (12)

  • Short of removal, most cardiac masses cannot be pinned down with certainty
  • Bedside echocardiogram is the key first test, with sensitivity and specificity reaching 90%
  • A transoesophageal study adds detail on character and site, and picks up small masses the transthoracic view leaves unclear
  • Contrast echo separates a tumour from a clot in the heart
  • Cardiac MRI gauges size, site, mobility and the effect on neighbouring structures
  • MRI alone characterises the tissue, tells cystic or waterlogged tissue apart, and gauges blood supply on first-pass perfusion
  • Late gadolinium picks up extracellular matrix; no uptake points instead to a clot
  • Telling benign from malignant, cardiac MRI reached up to 79% accuracy in small groups of patients
  • Fat suppression sequences pick out fatty tumours such as lipoma and liposarcoma
  • CT reads the mass and its neighbours, judging nature from x-ray attenuation, and shows calcium
  • Left heart catheterisation maps blood supply, invasion of epicardial vessels and spread into the ventricle
  • Removing the tumour and examining it under the microscope is what settles the type

If not this — what else fits (4)

  • A mass in the heart may instead be a clot or a vegetation
  • With an implanted device or prosthesis plus infection, vegetation moves up the list
  • In a cancer patient, heart failure may be chemotherapy toxicity rather than spread of the tumour
  • Infection itself can throw up masses or fluid around the heart, so send microbiology

SourceStatPearls "Cardiac Tumors" - disease-level clinical article

Presentation findings are traced to the source above.

1

NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (REFERRAL & ADVICE)

1st line
Adult dose and duration

A pathology-style category for a cardiovascular growth whose behaviour has not yet been determined; the GP's role is simply to refer for the biopsy or imaging that will classify it, not to treat. This code is more likely used for registry/coding purposes than as something a GP diagnoses directly. - Refer, with advice

Paediatric dose

Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is implied.

Dose source

No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care

Why

A pathology-style category for a cardiovascular growth whose behaviour has not yet been determined; the GP's role is simply to refer for the biopsy or imaging that will classify it, not to treat. This code is more likely used for registry/coding purposes than as something a GP diagnoses directly.

Cautions
  • RED FLAG - Pericardial effusion with tamponade: assess urgently and refer.
  • RED FLAG - Hemodynamic compromise / cardiac inflow-outflow obstruction: assess urgently and refer.
  • RED FLAG - Embolic events (stroke, systemic embolization): assess urgently and refer.
  • None specific beyond ensuring the diagnostic work-up is not delayed.
  • Rare in Egyptian primary care.
  • No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care - this entry is for recognition and referral. Anything given is decided by the service it is referred to.

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.