title: Cardiac angiosarcoma in a pregnant woman: a case report and review of the literature.
abstract: Cardiac angiosarcomas, although very rare, are the most common primary malignant tumours. They are characterized by no specific clinical findings, rapid growth with frequent metastasis at the time of diagnosis and a reduced response to treatment. We describe the case of a 34-year-old pregnant woman who began to complain of dyspnoea and palpitations at 32 weeks of gestation. The echocardiogram showed a mass in the right atrial cavity and the CT scan showed extensive local invasion and hepatic metastasis. After 4 weeks, because of progressive heart failure due to obstruction of the tricuspid valve by the mass, the patient was submitted to an urgent caesarean section followed, two days later, by palliative cardiac surgery in order to alleviate the symptoms. Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed.
authors: Department of Cardiology, Coimbra Hospital and Medical School, Coimbra, Portugal. saraiva.fatima@gmail.com
authors: Fátima
authors: F
authors: Saraiva
authors: Manuel
authors: M
authors: Antunes
authors: Luís Augusto
authors: LA
authors: Providência
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006325:Heart Atria; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D010507:Periodicity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents