Surgical Treatment for Angiosarcoma Occupying the Bilateral Atrial Cavities and the Atrial Septum

(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan and Department of Cardiovascular&General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University*, Izumo, Japan)

Keita Kikuchi* Haruo Makuuchi Hiroshi Murakami
Toshiya Kobayashi Masahide Chikada Takamaro Suzuki
Takashi Ando Kiyoshi Chiba
A 48-year-old man complained of hemoptysis. Chest CT scan showed a large cardiac tumor invading the atrial septum and both atria, as well as multiple small nodules in bilateral lung fields. They were diagnosed as a malignant cardiac tumor and its lung metastases. As the tumor in the left atrium was extremely massive, operation was performed to prevent sudden death due to occlusion and to make a pathological diagnosis. The cardiac tumor invaded the atrial septum from the right atrium and occupied the left atrium. After the cardiac tumor was completely removed, the bilateral atria, the atrial septum, SVC, IVC and the right lower pulmonary vein were reconstructed with prosthetic pericardial patches. The tumor was angiosarcoma. During the postoperative period, Interleukin-2 was used as the treatment for angiosarcoma. Unfortunately the patient died of lung failure on the 107th postoperative day. Though IL-2 could not stop the development of lung metastasis in this case, the effectiveness of radiotherapy or IL-2 for angiosarcoma has recently been reported. In such cases where complete resection of the primary cardiac lesion is possible, postoperative radiotherapy or IL-2 administration seems to be effective for cardiac sarcoma.
@Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 35: 25-28 (2006)