Epithelioid angiosarcoma arising in a surgically constructed arteriovenous fistula: a rare complication of chronic immunosuppression in the setting of renal transplantation

Am J Surg Pathol. 1998 Sep;22(9):1154-9. doi: 10.1097/00000478-199809000-00016.

Abstract

Immunosuppression in the setting of solid organ transplantation is associated with the development of a variety of malignant tumors, most commonly squamous carcinomas and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Sarcomas, apart from Kaposi's sarcoma, are relatively infrequent. We recently encountered a 71-year-old man with chronic renal failure, treated by allograft kidney transplantation, who developed a high-grade epithelioid angiosarcoma at the site of a nonfunctioning arteriovenous fistula, previously constructed for hemodialysis. At diagnosis, the patient had numerous satellite nodules of angiosarcoma involving the distal skin, soft tissues, and bones. After a below-elbow amputation, there was a rapid local recurrence at the amputation stump. Currently, the patient is alive with numerous pulmonary metastases, 6 months after amputation. A literature review identified three recently reported identical cases of epithelioid angiosarcoma arising in nonfunctioning arteriovenous fistulae. All three patients had been treated by kidney transplantation for renal failure, suggesting a possible causal association between these events. We performed polymerase chain reaction for human herpes virus 8, the recently recognized herpes virus proposed as a major etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, and possibly some conventional angiosarcomas, but we failed to identify any viral DNA within the tumor.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Amputation, Surgical
  • Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical / adverse effects*
  • Hemangiosarcoma / diagnostic imaging
  • Hemangiosarcoma / etiology
  • Hemangiosarcoma / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Radial Artery / surgery
  • Radiography
  • Renal Dialysis
  • Skin Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Skin Neoplasms / etiology
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology*