Roghayeh Pourkia1, Ghasem Faghanzadeh Ganji2, Mohsen Vakili Sadeghi3, Naghmeh Ziaie1, Nahid Rezaeian1, Faezeh Dehghani-Tafti4, Hossein Ghorbani5, Mohammad Mostafa Ansari Ramandi6. 1. Department of Cardiology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. 2. Department of Cardiac Surgery, Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. 3. Cancer Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. 4. Yazd Cardiovascular Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. 5. Department of Pathology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. 6. Cardiovascular Diseases Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patient symptoms and primary investigational methods may be misleading at some points in patient management and can consume a lot of time. Sarcomas are rare malignancies and contribute 1% of all cancers of adult. CASE PRESENTATION: A rare case of primary cardiac angiosarcoma is presented, who was first treated because of lung tuberculosis and then with only slight improvement in symptoms, further investigations were done showing right ventricular enlargement and pericardial effusion. Eventually, after ruling out pulmonary embolism and constrictive pericarditis, investigations lead to the diagnosis of primary cardiac angiosarcoma. The patient went under surgery to remove the tumor but he still had residual mass left, leading to chemotherapy and then radiotherapy. Although the tumor has a poor prognosis, our patient has managed to survive a year by now and is doing good for 6 months after radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: The case describes the importance of having in mind different differential diagnosis in managing patients and the role of multi-modality imaging in guiding diagnosis and treatment.
BACKGROUND: Patient symptoms and primary investigational methods may be misleading at some points in patient management and can consume a lot of time. Sarcomas are rare malignancies and contribute 1% of all cancers of adult. CASE PRESENTATION: A rare case of primary cardiac angiosarcoma is presented, who was first treated because of lung tuberculosis and then with only slight improvement in symptoms, further investigations were done showing right ventricular enlargement and pericardial effusion. Eventually, after ruling out pulmonary embolism and constrictive pericarditis, investigations lead to the diagnosis of primary cardiac angiosarcoma. The patient went under surgery to remove the tumor but he still had residual mass left, leading to chemotherapy and then radiotherapy. Although the tumor has a poor prognosis, our patient has managed to survive a year by now and is doing good for 6 months after radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: The case describes the importance of having in mind different differential diagnosis in managing patients and the role of multi-modality imaging in guiding diagnosis and treatment.
Entities:
Keywords:
Heart neoplasms; Magnetic resonance imaging; Prognosis; Tuberculosis
Authors: Kambiz Rahbar; Harald Seifarth; Michael Schäfers; Lars Stegger; Andreas Hoffmeier; Tilmann Spieker; Klaus Tiemann; David Maintz; Hans Heinrich Scheld; Otmar Schober; Matthias Weckesser Journal: J Nucl Med Date: 2012-05-10 Impact factor: 10.057