Korean J Dermatol.  2010 Jan;48(1):65-68.

A Case of Stewart-Treves Syndrome Associated with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation

• Lee JS
• Lee HK
• Cho IS
• Cho YH
• Koo DW

Abstract

Stewart-Treves syndrome is an angiosarcoma that develops in chronic lymphedematous skin. Kasabach-Merritt syndrome is characterized by the occurrence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in combination with benign angiomatous tumors in most cases, but angiosarcoma has also been reported to be associated with DIC in rare cases. Here we report on a case of a 74-year-old woman who had angiosarcoma on a large area of the right trunk and arm around a previous mastectomy site. She developed DIC after laminoplasty, and she finally expired from multiorgan failure 3 months after the initial diagnosis of DIC. Her preoperative laboratory findings were normal, and she did not have any other underlying diseases that were possibly related with the development of DIC, except the large area of angiosarcoma. In conclusion, we report here on a rare case of Stewart-Treves syndrome that co-occurred with DIC and we believe that accurate evaluation of a skin lesion is important for Stewart-Treves syndrome patients who display systemic symptoms.

Keyword

Angiosarcoma; Disseminated intravascular coagulation; Stewart-Treves syndrome

MeSH Terms

Aged
Arm
Dacarbazine
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation
Female
Hemangiosarcoma
Humans
Kasabach-Merritt Syndrome
Mastectomy
Skin
Dacarbazine