Primary Cardiac Sarcoma
A Novel Treatment Approach
- From the Department of Radiation Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia
- From the Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
- From the Department of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
- From the Fox Chase Cancer Center, and the Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
- From the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md.
Abstract
Primary cardiac sarcomas carry a dismal prognosis with no known curative therapy using standard treatment approaches. By its very location, the possibility of a radical complete resection—the underlying principle in the management of any soft-tissue sarcoma—is precluded. While literally in a continuous "blood bath," cardiac sarcomas are associated with a very high rate of hematogenous metastases. This report describes the management of a case in a 51-year-old white man with a high-grade unresectable cardiac sarcoma who was treated with hyperfractionated (twice daily) radiotherapy to a total dose of 7,050 cGy along with a radiosensitizer, (5'-iododeoxyuridine. The patient currently is disease-free and functioning well more than 5 years following this novel treatment approach.
Footnotes
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- Accepted January 5, 1998.
- Received November 3, 1997.
- 1998 by the American College of Chest Physicians
