Here Is Why “Cancer of the Heart” Doesn’t Exist

There are cancers of the brain, lymph nodes, bone, lungs, blood, breast and every other bodily organ, part or system imaginable. Why then do we never here of cancer of the heart? Could it be that our hearts, long symbolized as the root of loving emotion are somehow immune to the dreaded disease? Unfortunately, the reason no one ever talks about it is much more mundane and you are just a few step in discovering it.

According to Dr. Jacqueline Barrientos, quoted from medical daily, “we do have tumors that occur in the heart, but these are not as common, so you don’t hear about them”. Indeed, malignant heart tumors, referred to as rhabdomyosarcomas are exceedingly rare. A sarcoma is a type of tumor that originates in the soft tissues of the heart, their occurrence is estimated to be less than oil percent, based on a study of more than 12000 autopsies which identify only seven cases of any kind of primary cardiac tumor.(Primary tumors are those that originated where they are found and have not been spread from some other part of the body). This means that “most cancer found in the heart have migrated or come from elsewhere in the body” according to Dr. J. Moynihan of the Mayo Institute, meaning that they are secondary tumors. To have a better understanding of what he means, it might be important to review the basics. 

THE BASICS OF CANCER

Our bodies have some uncountable number of cells – though estimated to be 37.2 trillion. When our body is healthy, our numerous cells cooperate and share the huge task of our body, all while they go about their separate business of growing, dividing (to replenish themselves), and then efficiently dying. Cancer, then, is simply an abbreviation of these cellular processes. Cancer starts when a cell or cells start to grow out of control. This is due to damaged DNA, the genetic material carried in the nucleus of each and every cell. Normally, a cell repairs any damaged DNA, or simply dies, but cancer cells do not repair or die. Instead, they divide and make many more abnormal cells with damaged DNA. Another unusual property possessed by cancer cells is they are able into-invade, really- other tissues. Normal cells cannot do same. So when Moynihan says cancers in the heart has come from “elsewhere in the body”, he is talking about just such an invasion- i.e. the cancer originated from somewhere else in the body, but now spreads to the heart. Most tumors that spread to the heart come from the lungs, esophagus, and you can see them from the liver and the stomach. Even nests of leukemia cells from tumors in the heart. Most of these tumors penetrate through the right side of the heart because this is where the blood enters the heart. But you may ask “if secondary tumors can actually invade and survive in the heart, why is it rare for primary tumors to develop there?

WHY WE DON’T HAVE HEART CANCER

As you may likely know, we receive half of our genes from our mother and half from our father. Our environment affects which genes become expressed (activated) as well as how frequently they become activated. And carcinogens (any substance that produce cancer) coming from our food and environment are one of the many factors that influences which genes are activated or not. Some many toxins are found in breast tissue because there are a lot of fat cells there. And toxins are found wherever there is much fat. While our bodies have some defense against these contaminants, in the form of detoxifying enzymes and while our bodies are supported by micro-nutrients which turn on tumor suppressor genes, dangerous toxins found in our fat tissue still modify our genes, which can result in cancers forming in the organs of our bodies, especially those containing fatty tissues. This then is why the heart is so exceptional. “There’s not a lot of fatty tissue in the heart. Even more, the heart is enclosed in a membrane known as the pericardium, this fluid-filled sac may itself become engulfed by cancer with tumors metastasizing(spreading) to the outside of it, but still, it does its job of protecting our dear hearts” So even, though cancer can happen anywhere there are cells, our heart remains virtually immune due to its muscular nature and the assistance of the pericardium. “What a smart and wonderful heart we have”. Protect it!