An international surgical collaboration for the management of pulmonary artery sarcoma: a New Zealand experience.

Abstract

We present the case of a 73-year-old man with a pulmonary artery sarcoma successfully treated as a result of an international surgical collaboration. The tumour was initially deemed to be unresectable due to a lack of local expertise managing cardiac malignancies. Since the patient was unable to travel to a specialist centre in the United States, he was initially offered only palliative therapy. However, two surgeons with experience of treating malignant cardiac tumours travelled to New Zealand specifically to perform a potentially curative resection of his tumour. This case suggests that there should be an emphasis placed on the development of internationally acceptable protocols for the treatment of rare conditions and improved local access to overseas surgical expertise.