Primary cardiac angiosarcoma: a prolonged response to surgical resection followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy with docetaxel

Abstract

Introduction: Primary cardiac cancer is a very rare disease, among which primary cardiac angiosarcoma is one of the most frequent type and is characterized by extremely poor prognosis without established optimal treatment. Case description: Here we report a case of primary cardiac angiosarcoma with hemorrhagic pericardial effusion who achieved a durable response with tumor excision followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy with docetaxel. A sixty year old man was presented with dyspnea and was diagnosed with primary cardiac angiosarcoma with hemorrhagic pericardial effusion. After surgical excision of primary tumor with microscopic residual disease followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy with docetaxel, the patient showed durable response of progression free survival of 12 months. Discussion and evaluation: This case shows benefit of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with taxane. Further investigation of aggressive multimodal treatment strategy is warranted for primary cardiac angiosarcoma with pauci-metastasis even when achievement of complete resection seems unlikely.