Abstract
Primary leiomyosarcoma of the pulmonary artery is a rare malignancy arising from the
multipotential mesenchymal cell of the intima of the pulmonary artery. Due to its
rarity and nonspecific clinical symptoms, the correct diagnosis and proper management
are often delayed. Furthermore, it is frequently misdiagnosed as pulmonary embolism,
mediastinal mass, pulmonary stenosis and lung cancer. Therefore, it is important to
consider primary leiomyosarcoma of the pulmonary artery a possibility when a persistent
filling defect is present in the pulmonary artery and there is no response to optimal
anticoagulation treatment. Radiologic findings such as a unilateral mass continuously
filling the pulmonary artery, inhomogenous enhancement, vascular distension, extravascular
invasion into adjacent structure or uptake in the area of tumor on the FDG-PET can
be helpful when differentiating pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS) from chronic thromboembolism.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 22,
2002
Received:
September 5,
2002
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
