title: Diagnostic enigma: primary pulmonary artery sarcoma.
abstract: Primary angiosarcoma of pulmonary artery is a very rare lesion. We present a case of primary angiosarcoma that was initially misdiagnosed as a subacute massive pulmonary thromboembolism in a 30-year-old man. This rare disease is usually indistinguishable from acute or chronic thromboembolic disease of the pulmonary arteries. The clinical and radiological findings of pulmonary artery angiosarcoma are similar to those of pulmonary thromboembolism. Although the incidence of pulmonary artery angiosarcoma is very low, our case demonstrates that this disease entity should be included in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism. Patients with early identification can have curative potential with aggressive surgical intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia. krishnabhagwat@gmail.com
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhagwat
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hallam
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Antippa
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larobina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004452:Echocardiography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011651:Pulmonary Artery; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D019043:Vascular Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*