Pelvic Angiosarcoma Around Total Hip Prosthesis.

Abstract

Angiosarcomas constitute less than 1% of primary bone malignancies. Their association with prosthetic material has been described, while their etiology remains unclear. We present a case of a 64-year woman with severe bleeding and hip joint osteolysis after an accidental fall. She had undergone prosthetic total hip arthroplasty many years back. The rapid recurrence of pelvic hematoma and the refractory infection of pelvic cavity made necessary to disarticulate the prosthetic hip joint, after several attempts to apply conservative treatment. Despite supportive treatment, she died. Autopsy revealed evidently dissemanted angiosarcoma of pelvic bones. Angiosarcoma of the bone should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with uncontrollable bleeding and osteolysis, due to the increase of life expectancy when prompt and combined treatment is initiated.