title: Aortic angiosarcoma masquerading as a thoracic aortic aneurysm.
abstract: Aortic angiosarcoma is an exceedingly rare clinical entity. Significant delay in diagnosis can occur due to a low index of suspicion on the part of the clinician. We report a case of aortic angiosarcoma masquerading as a descending thoracic aneurysm arising from a penetrating ulcer. The patient was initially treated with an endovascular stent graft for rapid growth, but the lesion continued to enlarge despite angiographic exclusion. FDG-PET CT scan and biopsy ultimately confirmed the diagnosis of aortic angiosarcoma. This case highlights some of the difficulties of making the early diagnosis of aortic angiosarcoma.
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Vimal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ramjee
authors.forename: Sharif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ellozy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D001027:Aortography / Q000379:methods; D001706:Biopsy; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015607:Stents; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures; D019043:Vascular Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18