title: [An autopsy case of chronic empyema-associated angiosarcoma that presented with a rapidly growing chest wall mass].
abstract: A 76-year-old woman with chronic tuberculous empyema presented with bloody sputa and anorexia in April 2005. Chest X-ray and CT scan showed no obvious change compared with previous films. She complained of a left chest pain in June 2005, and chest CT scan showed a tumor shadow enhanced heterogeneously on the left chest wall and chronic empyema. After admission, the chest wall mass grew rapidly. Neither CT- nor sonographically guided biopsy yielded a definitive diagnosis. Dynamic MRI showed a high signal intensity unlike hematoma. She died of respiratory failure 2 months after the onset of her chest pain. Autopsy revealed angiosarcoma. We should always keep in mind the early diagnosis of malignant tumor and tuberculosis in patients presenting with a chest wall mass and constitutional symptoms during follow-up of chronic tuberculous empyema.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Fujisawa City Hospital.
authors.forename: Nobuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kusano
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Nobumasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kakemizu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D004654:Empyema, Tuberculous / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*