Primary cardiac angiosarcoma: A case report

Echocardiography. 2018 Feb;35(2):267-271. doi: 10.1111/echo.13808. Epub 2018 Jan 19.

Abstract

Cardiac angiosarcomas are the most common primary malignant cardiac tumors in adults. The diagnosis is often delayed due to nonspecific clinical symptoms at presentation. The cornerstones of diagnosis are echocardiography and the histological evaluation of the cardiac biopsy. The knowledge on the treatment is limited; the outcomes of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, complete surgical removal, and heart transplantation are controversial. We report a 38-year-old woman with a primary heart tumor which infiltrated the right atrial wall and the pericardium and caused pericardial effusion. Angiosarcoma was verified histologically. The surgical excision could not be radical, and the patient died 3 months from diagnosis.

Keywords: angiosarcoma; cardiac tumor; echocardiography; pericardial effusion.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cardiac Surgical Procedures
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Echocardiography / methods*
  • Echocardiography, Transesophageal
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Heart / diagnostic imaging
  • Heart Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Heart Neoplasms / surgery
  • Hemangiosarcoma / diagnostic imaging*
  • Hemangiosarcoma / surgery
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging