title: High-grade, nonmyogenic pulmonary artery sarcoma: rare findings on coronary angiography.
abstract: Pulmonary artery sarcomas are exceptionally rare, and they are often misdiagnosed as chronic pulmonary thromboemboli. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial to the prognosis of patients who have pulmonary artery sarcomas.Herein, we describe the case of a 74-year-old man who presented with dyspnea and was initially thought to have a pulmonary embolus. Anticoagulation with unfractionated heparin was ineffective. Rare angiographic findings during routine cardiac catheterization led to the diagnosis of a high-grade, nonmyogenic, primary pulmonary artery sarcoma. This case illustrates the usefulness of angiographic findings as an adjunct to conventional diagnostic methods in correctly identifying this rare, aggressive malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cytopathology, Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USA. vramjee@emory.edu
authors.forename: Vimal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ramjee
authors.forename: Melinda M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Clements
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000209:etiology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D017211:Treatment Failure; D019043:Vascular Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents