Nov 29 Artistic Designer of luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton's menswear collection, Virgil Abloh, dies of cancer at the peak of his career. The news came as a shock to close friends and family as Abloh had been battling the disease "privately" for several years. He was battling a very rare form of cancer called Cardiac Angiosarcoma, many few people know about this disease. His death has brought up a lot of questions about cardiac angiosarcoma. Here's what you need to know.
What is cardiac angiosarcoma?
Cardiac angiosarcoma is rare cancer that develops in the inner lining of blood vessels and lymph vessels, Angiosarcomas can happen anywhere in the body, but usually occur in the skin, breast, liver, and spleen. However, cardiac angiosarcoma happens in the chambers of the heart. Angiosarcomas are a kind of sarcoma that specifically afflict cells that line blood vessels, and cardiac angiosarcomas are angiosarcomas that occur within or around the heart. Cardiac angiosarcomas that begin in the heart are known as primary cardiac angiosarcomas, whereas cancers that form elsewhere and then spread to the heart are secondary cardiac angiosarcomas.
What are the symptoms of cardiac angiosarcoma?
The symptoms of cardiac angiosarcoma can often seem like other health conditions, and only a doctor provider can tell if you have cancer, Symptoms of Cardiac angiosarcoma are:
- Fainting
- Arrhythmia
- Dizziness
- Blood pooling in the legs and ankles, leading to swelling
- Chest pain
- Coughing up blood
Who is at risk of developing cardiac angiosarcoma?In primary cardiac angiosarcoma, males are usually affected more often than females, in a 2–3/1 ratio. Although cases have been identified among a wide range of ages, most patients that are affected are younger than 65 years of age. A gene called POT1 may also cause cardiac angiosarcoma to form, per the NCI, and it can be inherited through families.
How is cardiac angiosarcoma treated?
Treatment guidelines for cardiac angiosarcoma are not yet established due to the rarity, but multidiscipline therapies including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are most commonly employed. Surgery is the mainstay of angiosarcoma treatment