Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 70, Issue 8 , Pages 352-355, August 2007

Duodenal Angiosarcoma: An Unusual Cause of Severe Gastrointestinal Bleeding

  • Jian-Ling Chen

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Yong Kang Veterans Hospital, Yong Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • King-Tong Mok

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Yong Kang Veterans Hospital, Yong Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr King-Tong Mok, Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, 386, Ta-Chung 1st Road, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Hui-Hwa Tseng

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, and Yong Kang Veterans Hospital, Yong Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Being-Whey Wang

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Yong Kang Veterans Hospital, Yong Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Shiuh-Inn Liu

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Yong Kang Veterans Hospital, Yong Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Chin-Wang Chen

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yong Kang Veterans Hospital, Yong Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 19 January 2007; accepted 2 July 2007.

Article Outline

Angiosarcoma is a rare soft-tissue neoplasm that occurs most often in the skin and the subcutaneous tissues but very rarely in the gastrointestinal tract. We report a case of primary intestinal angiosarcoma with severe gastrointestinal bleeding. This patient was referred to our institute for shock with tarry-bloody stool and severe anemia. Panendoscopy revealed multiple duodenal polypoid tumors, and initial biopsy specimen showed poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The tumors were treated with pancreaticoduodenectomy, but the patient died 2 weeks after the operation as a result of acute respiratory distress syndrome. The pathology was consistent with angiosarcoma of the duodenum. In our experience, this tumor may cause severe bleeding, and surgery should be performed as soon as possible to prevent complications of hypovolemic shock.

Key words:  angiosarcoma , immunohistochemistry , intestinal neoplasm

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PII: S1726-4901(08)70019-4

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(08)70019-4

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 70, Issue 8 , Pages 352-355, August 2007

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