Diagnosis and treatment of cardiac angiosarcoma

OŁOWNIA, Aleksandra, ORCZYK, Jakub, TOKARZEWSKA, Agata & PIECEWICZ-SZCZĘSNA, Halina. Diagnosis and treatment of cardiac angiosarcoma. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2023;40(1):20-25. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2023.40.01.002 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/43962 https://zenodo.org/record/8037399 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2023; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 12.05.2023. Revised: 05.06.2023. Accepted: 19.06.2023. Published: 19.06.2023. DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CARDIAC ANGIOSARCOMA Aleksandra Ołownia1, Jakub Orczyk1, Agata Tokarzewska1, Halina Piecewicz-Szczęsna2 1Student Scientific Association at Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research Methodology Medical University of Lublin, ul. Radziwiłłowska 11, Lublin 20-080, Poland 2Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research Methodology of the Medical University of Lublin, ul. Radziwiłłowska 11, Lublin 20-080, Poland Corresponding author: Aleksandra Ołownia, Olaolowniax@gmail.com ORCID ID: Aleksandra Ołownia: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6164-6639 Jakub Orczyk: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4201-545X Agata Tokarzewska: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9539-1697 Dr n. med. Halina Piecewicz-Szczęsna: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0573-7226 ABSTRACT Primary cardiac tumors are very rare in the population. About 20% of it are malignant. The most common type of cardiac malignant tumor is angiosarcoma. This tumor has the ability to infiltrate surrounding tissues and form distant metastases. Angiosarcoma is most often located in the right atrium and it mostly attacks men. This neoplasm is difficult to diagnose, because it has no specific symptoms. Patients with this tumor may complain of a chest pain, cardiac arrhythmias, suffocation and distal oedema. The rarity of occurrence and the lack of specyfic symptoms contribute to late diagnosis of the disease and worse prognosis of patients. Angiosarcoma can also be misdiagnosed as pneumonia or more common cardiovascular disease for example coronary artery disease. In advanced stage, this tumor can even lead to myocardial rupture. Various imaging methods are used in the diagnostics of this neoplasm for example: CT, MRI, PET-CT or Echocardiography. Histopathological examinations are less frequently used due to the risk of serious complications like hemothorax. Due to the very uncommon occurrence of the angiosarcoma, guidelines describing treatment of patients with this neoplasm, have not been developed yet. Currently, surgical removal of the tumor (if it is possible), chemiotherapy and radiotherapy are used. Reaserches on the genetic mutations which cause angiosarcoma and the development of appropriate drugs may give patients a chance for more effective treatment in the future. Keywords: heart, histopathology, angiosarcoma, primary cardiac tumor, malignant tumor, cardiolog