Cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic findings of intimal sarcoma

Intimal sarcomas are exceptionally rare tumors that arise from the tunica intima of large vessels. Most intimal sarcomas are high-grade tumors that exhibit fibroblastic or myofibroblastic differentiation. We report the cytogenetic findings of a tumor from a 57-year-old man. The tumor had a pleomorphic and spindle-cell morphology, and it also exhibited a complex karyotype that was characterized by several numeric and structural chromosomal abnormalities. Molecular cytogenetic analysis showed amplification of MDM2, SAS, and CDK4, but not of HMGA2, ATF1, or DDIT3, which supported the findings of a previous comparative genomic hybridization study. Further studies are needed to determine whether the cytogenetic abnormalities found in this case are recurrent events for this poorly characterized malignancy.