CASE REPORTS  CARDIAC SECTION 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2001 August;42(4):495-7

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Sudden death due to rupture of an omental metastatic tumor arising from cardiac angiosarcoma. A case report

Kamiyoshihara M., Ishikawa S., Morishita Y.

From the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Maebashi Red Cross Hospital, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan *Second Department of Surgery, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

A 32-­year-old man under­went sur­gical exci­sion of a malig­nant heman­gioen­doth­e­lioma of the ­heart and ­received mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary treat­ment. ­Thirty-­three ­months ­later, he under­went a ­second sur­gical treat­ment for a recur­rent ­tumor of the pos­te­rior ­chest ­wall of the ­right ­thorax. ­Five ­months ­after ­this sur­gery (­thirty-­eight ­months ­after the ­initial sur­gery), a ­second recur­rent ­tumor in the ­right ­thorax devel­oped. ­Although radio­therapy and recom­bi­nant inter­leukin-2 ­were admin­is­tered, ­anemia of ­unknown ­origin (hemo­globin 6.7 g/dl) devel­oped. The ­patient ­died of ­sudden ­shock due to a rup­ture of an ­omental met­a­static ­tumor. The ­patient sur­vived for 41 ­months ­after the ­first sur­gical resec­tion. We ­present ­this ­case ­because it is the ­first ­reported ­case of ­sudden ­death due to ­bleeding ­from an ­omental met­a­static ­tumor, and ­because our ­patient was the ­second-­longest sur­vivor ­after sur­gical treat­ment for car­diac angio­sar­coma.