RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Cardiac myxomas are the most frequent benign heart tumors, and have an uncertain histogenesis. An endothelial, subendocardial and an undifferentiated mesenchymal cell origin with vasoformative characteristics has been suggested. The aim of this study was to make a review the cardiac myxomas at our institution paying special attention to its histogenesis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed the clinico-pathological features of the 13 cardiac myxomas studied at our hospital, and we stained them with immunohistochemical stains. RESULTS: The average age on presentation was 62.8 years. 12 cases were left atrial, one of them with cerebral metastasis. The average size was 6.3 cm. Microscopically all of them were composed of a myxoid-matrix with spindled cells and small neoformed vessels. The tumors were completely positive for Vimentin and randomly positive with Actin and VIII-RA. CAM 5.2 was strictly negative. CONCLUSION: These results show that these kinds of tumors are neoplasms arising from mesenchymal pluripotential cells which are capable of many types of differentiation (endothelium, etc).