PRIMARY CARDIAC SARCOMA - A NOVEL TREATMENT APPROACH

Primary cardiac sarcomas carry a dismal prognosis with no known curati ve therapy using standard treatment approaches. By its very location, the possibility of a radical complete resection-the underlying princip le in the management of any soft-tissue sarcoma-is precluded. While li terally in a continuous ''blood bath,'' cardiac sarcomas are associate d with a very high rate of hematogenous metastases. This report descri bes the management of a case in a 51-year-old white man with a high-gr ade unresectable cardiac sarcoma who was treated with hyperfractionate d (twice daily) radiotherapy to a total dose of 7,050 eGy along with a radiosensitizer, (5'-iodode-oxyuridipne. The patient currently is dis ease-free and functioning well more than 5 years following this novel treatment approach.