Generalised angiosarcoma of the heart.

A primary angiosarcoma, which formed multiple ventricular pericardial and myocardial nodules without atrial involvement, occurred in the heart of an 80-year old Caucasian female and caused death within three weeks of the onset of symptoms. There were neither cutaneous lesions to suggest Kaposi's sarcoma nor serological evidence of infection by Human T-cell Leukemia Virus and the rapidly fatal course of the patient's illness was similar to that of the typical atrial cardiac angiosarcoma. The distinction between primary cardiac angiosarcoma and Kaposi's sarcoma affecting the heart is discussed.