Pulmonary metastatic angiosarcoma from scalp with fatal complication: A case report

Angiosarcoma is a rare malignant neoplasm with poor prognosis. Angiosarcoma of the scalp is frequently recurs locally, and metastasizes early despite various treatments. The common sites of metastatic are lung, liver, and lymph nodes. Pulmonary metastasis with hemoptysis and pneumothorax is rare but threatening.

A 77-year-old male had recurrent angiosarcoma of the scalp even with post operation radiotherapy. At the same time, recurrent pneumothorax was noted, thus he underwent wedge resection of the right upper lobe of the lung plus pleural biopsy. The final pathologic report of cystic lesions showed metastatic Angiosarcoma. He received intravenous paclitaxel and the lung lesions dramatically diminished subsequently.

Pulmonary metastasis from soft tissue sarcoma had fatal complications and poor prognosis. Metastases of AS to the lung have a well-described morphology on CT scan, but appear to be hypometabolic on PET scan and are easily misinterpreted as benign cysts.

Angiosarcoma is a rare but highly vascular invasive endothelial tumor that generally metastasizes to the lung. It could cause repeated hemoptysis pneumothorax and pleural effusion. Preoperative chest CT may be recommended routinely. Aggressive treatment resulted in not only symptoms control but also good prognosis.