Objective:
Angiosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor originating from vascular endothelial cells. Typically, the diagnosis of angiosarcomas carry poor prognosis. Radiation exposure is one of the most common risk factors for angiosarcomas. Due to the rarity of angiosarcoma, there is sparse literature, hence it is mostly seen in case reports. We describe a case of cerebral angiosarcoma with an unknown primary malignancy in a patient with distant history of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy to the thorax
Background:
A 54 year old male with a history of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was treated with ABVD chemotherapy and thoracic radiation therapy in 1995,presented for bilateral vision loss. Neurologic examination revealed a left homonymous hemianopia .Further investigation with brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging revealed hemorrhagic lesions in the bilateral frontal and in the right parietal-occipital lobes. Computed tomography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis was negative for malignancy. The patient underwent a right occipital craniotomy with resection of right parietal occipital lesion. Histopathology revealed metastatic angiosarcoma.
Results:
It has been acknowledged that exposure to external beam radiotherapy puts patients at risk for angiosarcoma in the future. It is believed that radiation may induce the development of AS by several mechanisms. One mechanism is the direct oncogenic effect of ionizing radiation, which can damage DNA, leading to genome instability and mutation of cancer-related genes.
Conclusions:
A prior literature review noted twenty cases of angiosarcoma developing following therapeutic irradiation. Our particular patient’s prior exposure to irridation did not include a brain radiation field, so it is unlikely this patient had radiation induced angiosarcoma.Furthermore, it does not appear that his prior radiation exposure explains the location of his angiosarcoma as his radiation field was localized to chest. Although angiosarcoma is rare, it deserves further investigation to increase the knowledge base on etiology of metastasis