Primary Pulmonary Leiomyosarcoma: Could It Be Cured by Radiation Therapy?

ABSTRACT

Primary leiomyosarcoma of lung is extremely rare and often diagnosed as a mass on routine chest radiography. Although advances have been made in treatment protocols, leiomyosarcoma remains one of the more difficult soft tissue sarcomas to treat. Surgical resection is usually curative for small and well-differentiated sarcomas. For poorly differentiated and non-resectable tumors, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are used as neoadejuvant or palliative treatment options. Generally, leiomyosarcomas are known to be resistant to radiation therapy alone. The authors experienced a 68-year-old woman who was diagnosed leiomyosarcoma by routine chest radiography. Although disease progression was observed despite of chemotherapy, radiation therapy reduced the size of tumor. This paper describes the curative potential of radiation therapy for primary pulmonary leiomyosarcomas through a case report and literature review.