[Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the aorta]. / Malignes fibröses Histiozytom der Aorta.

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding occurred in a 64-year-old woman who was being treated with 1,000 mg acetylsalicylic acid and three times 5,000 IU heparin daily previous to a planned embolectomy because of occlusion of a lower leg artery. Radiology demonstrated multiple areas of osteolysis of the left thorax which were interpreted as recurrence of carcinoma of the breast, treated by mastectomy and radiotherapy 15 years previously. Acute renal failure, recurring severe back and abdominal pain, paraplegia of both legs and finally death from circulatory failure were explained as having been caused by multiple embolisation in the course of arteriosclerosis or a paraneoplastic increase in clotting activity. Autopsy revealed complete occlusion of the descending thoracic aorta by a malignant fibrous histiocytoma which had been the site of multiple emboli of thrombotic material and tumour tissue to spleen, kidneys, liver, intestinal segments, spinal cord and the artery to the left lower leg. Adrenal metastasis and osteolysis of the ribs were due to the histiocytoma and not the previously known carcinoma of the breast.