A case of a motor vehicle collision suspected as associated with development of angiosarcoma

Trauma has been suspected as a factor leading to development of angiosarcoma, a malignant soft-tissue tumor. We conducted a forensic autopsy to investigate a putative relation between a motor vehicle collision and the driver's later death from angiosarcoma. A vehicle operated by a man in his 60 s collided with an oncoming vehicle at a curve. The victim noticed no injury at the scene. However, 45 days later, he was transferred to an emergency room with dyspnea and bloody sputum. After diagnosis of angiosarcoma, he died of respiratory failure 132 days later. The bereaved family speculated about a relation between the collision and angiosarcoma onset. At autopsy, tumor cells of the scalp had metastasized to the lung, pleura, liver, and spleen. Histopathological examinations revealed characteristic features of angiosarcoma with positive immune-staining for CD31, CD34, and factor VIII. When a person dies some time after a collision, it is designated as a delayed death. In such cases, the relevance of trauma to the person's death is often an issue of concern. Because the interval between trauma and angiosarcoma development was short, only 45 days, the angiosarcoma might be coincidental. Therefore, we rejected the relation. Forensic experts sometimes need to investigate such inquiries.