[Cardiac angiosarcoma with gastrointestinal bleeding, hypoxemia, thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic hemolytic...

This report describes cardiac angiosarcoma in a 62-year-old man. The patient presented with metastatic pulmonary and extradural spinal cord tumors of unknown origin. During the course, he developed hypoxemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, thrombocytopenia, and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia. Anticancer therapy could not be initiated because of his poor general condition, and he died. Autopsy revealed angiosarcoma in the right atrium. Metastases were found in the lungs, liver, adrenals, gingiva and vertebrae. The various hematologic abnormalities were probably the result of aberrant hemodynamics caused by the presence of a large amount of neoplastic vascular tissue.