Vascular leiomyosarcoma arising from the inferior vena cava diagnosed by intraluminal biopsy

A 61-year-old woman developed pain in the right thigh, paraplagia of the lower extremities and lumbago in November 1996. A lumbar spine roentgenogram showed lytic change in L2, and magnetic resonance imaging showed a patchy destructive lesion and compression of the dural sac from the right by a tumour. Computed tomography (CT) myelography showed a motheaten destructive lesion in L2 and projection of the tumour into the spinal canal. Abdominal ultrasound, CT and cavography showed dilatation of the inferior vena cava (IVC) and an intraluminal tumour about 2x2.8x4 cm in size in the IVC. The tumour arose from the IVC just beneath the renal vein and extended to just short of the right atrium. Both vertebral and intraluminal biopsy materials showed the same morphology, in which atypical spindle cells admixed with multinucleated giant cells proliferated in a fascicular growth pattern. Neoplastic cells were strongly positive for alpha-smooth muscle actin. We diagnosed vascular leiomyosarcoma arising from the IVC with metastasis to the lumbar vertebrae. Cases of vascular leiomyosarcoma diagnosed by intraluminal biopsy are rare.