TY - JOUR
T1 - Primary cardiac sarcoma in pregnancy
T2 - A case report and review of the literature
AU - Ceresoli, Giovanni
AU - Passoni, Paolo
AU - Benussi, Stefano
AU - Alfieri, Ottavio
AU - Dell'Antonio, Giacomo
AU - Bolognesi, Angelo
PY - 1999/10
Y1 - 1999/10
N2 - Primary cardiac sarcoma (PCS) is a rare disease with a poor prognosis, because of diagnostic delay, therapeutic difficulties, and high metastatic potential. Surgery is the standard treatment. A case of PCS in pregnancy is reported, with a review of published surgical series of PCSs, focusing on the role of surgery and adjuvant therapy. Prompt surgery improved cardiac function and patients' outcome in comparison with untreated cases. The role of adjuvant treatment was analyzed only in a few series, mainly without distinction between postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy; adjuvant therapy improved survival in the larger series of resected PCSs. Only three other cases of PCS in pregnancy were reported. In the present case, resection was performed with no major complication for the mother and the infant. Even if the patient's survival was short, cardiac surgery allowed prolonging of pregnancy until an acceptable possibility of fetal survival was reached. Although resection is not curative in most cases, surgery remains the treatment of choice for PCS and has a definite palliative significance. The role of postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy is difficult to ascertain; however, adjuvant chemotherapy seems advisable in high-grade tumors.
AB - Primary cardiac sarcoma (PCS) is a rare disease with a poor prognosis, because of diagnostic delay, therapeutic difficulties, and high metastatic potential. Surgery is the standard treatment. A case of PCS in pregnancy is reported, with a review of published surgical series of PCSs, focusing on the role of surgery and adjuvant therapy. Prompt surgery improved cardiac function and patients' outcome in comparison with untreated cases. The role of adjuvant treatment was analyzed only in a few series, mainly without distinction between postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy; adjuvant therapy improved survival in the larger series of resected PCSs. Only three other cases of PCS in pregnancy were reported. In the present case, resection was performed with no major complication for the mother and the infant. Even if the patient's survival was short, cardiac surgery allowed prolonging of pregnancy until an acceptable possibility of fetal survival was reached. Although resection is not curative in most cases, surgery remains the treatment of choice for PCS and has a definite palliative significance. The role of postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy is difficult to ascertain; however, adjuvant chemotherapy seems advisable in high-grade tumors.
KW - Adjuvant therapy
KW - Cardiac tumors
KW - Heart
KW - Pregnancy
KW - Primary cardiac sarcoma
KW - Surgery
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U2 - 10.1097/00000421-199910000-00008
DO - 10.1097/00000421-199910000-00008
M3 - Article
C2 - 10521059
AN - SCOPUS:0033504654
VL - 22
SP - 460
EP - 465
JO - American Journal of Clinical Oncology
JF - American Journal of Clinical Oncology
SN - 0277-3732
IS - 5
ER -