Cardiac angiosarcoma; report of a case

ABSTRACT

Sarcomas are the most malignant tumors in the myocardium. Most common sarcoma is the angiosarcoma, classically located in the right atrium. Surgical resection is the primary treatment of choice for these patients. In July 2003, an 18 years old man with chest pain and dyspnea, transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated a large lobulated tumoral mass in right atrium. Cytologic examination of the pericardial effusion reported as no evidence of malignancy and chest CT scan showed cardiac dilatation with blood density and pericardial effusion. The patient underwent operation and tumor bulk was resected. Based on histological examination and immunohistochemistry, diagnosis of cardiac angiosarcoma was made and the patient received postoperative radiotherapy through parallel-opposed AP-PA cobalt beam technique. After combined modality treatment with surgery and postoperative radiotherapy, symptoms were disappeared and after 20 month follow up patient is symptom free. Despite of the ominous outcome of this malignancy an multimodality approach is worthy of consideration