Cardiac angiosarcoma is a rare heart malignancy. The prognosis is reported to be very poor. Here, we report a case of cardiac angiosarcoma which was treated by postoperative conformal dynamic arc radiotherapy. The patient has been in good health with no recurrence for 18 months after surgery. The patient was a 71-year-old woman, who presented edema and general malaise. Echocardiography and computed tomography revealed a right atrial mass and massive pericardial effusion, which was thought to be the cause of tamponade. Intraoperatively, we found a large tumor arising from right atrial wall spreading and invading to the inferior vena cava, diaphragm, and right pericardium. We abandoned complete resection of the tumor. We only resected the part of the tumor under cardiopulmonary bypass. The subsequent defect of the right atrial wall was reconstructed with bovine pericardial patch. The pathological diagnosis was consistent with angiosarcoma, and the margin was positive for the tumor. In addition to reduction surgery, we adopted radiotherapy (conformal dynamic arc radiotherapy, 10MV-X-ray, 54 Gy/18 Fr/4.5 week, fractionated radiotherapy). The CT, one month after the radiation, showed a significant reduction in tumor size. Moreover, no tumor could be pointed out by echocardiography 18 months after surgery. Advances in technology and methodology has made tumor control possible without significant side effects. We conclude that reduction surgery accompanied with postoperative radiotherapy is promising in maintaining quality of life and in improving life expectancy.

A 41-year-old man with focal glomerulosclerosis had been treated by hemodialysis for 22 years. Kidney transplantation from a living donor was performed once, but the transplanted kidney was removed out because it had been infected by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus about 3 months previously. He was admitted to our hospital with over 38°C fever 2 months after the removal. He had hemoptysis and marked back pain. Computed tomography scan revealed ruptured descending aorta. The descending aorta was circumferentially calcified but not enlarged. We thought that a penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer had formed in a crack of the porcelain aorta and ruptured with infection. First we tried endovascular treatment with stent-graft implantation. It was useful to control hemoptysis, but a small amount of type I leakage remained. Finally, after controlling the infection, we performed prosthesis replacement with extra-corporeal circulation and surrounded the artificial aorta with the omentum. The postoperative course was uneventful and he recovered completely.

The objective of this study was to identify the roles of clinical psychologists in palliative care teams by conducting focus group interviews. The participants were 7 physicians and nurses of highly active palliative care teams. Results from the qualitative analysis of interview content revealed that the most important knowledges needed by psychologists in palliative care is fundamental and specialized psychological knowledges and skills. The second most important was general and psychiatric medical knowledges regarding cancer. Otherwise, psychologists were expected to understand the roles of other staff members and the medical system, and provide mental and emotional support to medical staff. Our results clarified that psychologists require a broad understanding of medical care for cancer, good communication skills for interacting with other staff members, and the ability to actively utilize their psychiatric specialty to provide psychological support to patients, families and medical workers. Palliat Care Res 2009; 4(2): 228-234