Pulmonary artery intimal sarcoma diagnosed using endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration

Abstract

Intimal sarcoma of the pulmonary artery is a rare intraluminal malignant neoplasm that has an aggressive biological behavior, and early diagnosis may improve patient outcome. We describe a case of pulmonary artery intimal sarcoma diagnosed on cytologic material obtained by endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) biopsy with rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE). The aspirate showed loosely cohesive clusters of pleomorphic malignant spindled and epithelioid cells. An immunostain panel did not demonstrate any definitive mesenchymal or epithelial differentiation. The tumor's intraluminal origin was supported by radiographic imaging studies. Subsequently, the patient received preoperative chemotherapy and underwent tumor resection with reconstruction. This report describes the cytomorphologic features of this rare intravascular tumor and demonstrates how EBUS-TBNA with ROSE was instrumental in obtaining optimal cytologic sampling for ancillary studies, thus expediting the management.