Chronic graft thrombosis after en bloc resection of inferior vena cava leiomyosarcoma. A case report

Abstract

Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a rare malignant tumor originating from smooth muscle cells. Primary leiomyosarcomas arising from vessels’ walls are extremely rare (2%), with LMS of inferior vena cava being the most frequent subtype. We present the case of a 45-year-old man with a past medical history of resected leiomyosarcoma of the right calf, presenting with a follow-up CT showing a retroperitoneal mass arising from the inferior vena cava, which proved to be IVC leiomyosarcoma at histopathology. The patient underwent surgical resection of the mass with prosthetic reconstruction of the IVC. Three days after surgery he developed complete thrombosis of IVC graft which persisted at 3-months follow-up imaging and was treated with pharmacological therapy. Although there are many references reporting the association between LMS of the inferior vena cava and postoperative deep vein thrombosis, to our knowledge there are no reports currently available regarding complete thrombosis of IVC vascular graft after surgical resection of IVC LMS.

Keywords

• Leiomyosarcoma
• Inferior vena cava
• Thrombosis
• CT
• Imaging
• Treatment