A Case of Angiosarcoma with a Chief Complaint of Facial Edema

Abstract

A 91-year-old man presented with a 4-month history of edema on both eyelids. Although exacerbation of heart failure or circulatory disorder was suspected at the cardiology department of our hospital, no abnormality was found. To distinguish drug-induced angioedema, oral medications were discontinued. However, the edema spread to his entire face and he was referred to our department. At the time of consultation, in addition to facial edema, a tumor on the left side of the frontal region was observed under hair. Histologically, atypical cells proliferated throughout the dermis and formation of the luminal structure was hardly observed. Immunohistochemical staining, which revealed that the tumor cells were positive for CD31, D2-40 and factor VIII, confirmed the diagnosis of angiosarcoma. In this case, an accurate diagnosis was difficult because purpura, which is the most common characteristic of angiosarcoma, was not observed during the clinical course and facial edema was the major complaint. Therefore, we report this rare example of angiosarcoma presenting as facial edema with a literature review. Skin Research, 20 : 197-202, 2021