Background

Sylvia is a postmenopausal, 55-year-old Caucasian woman. She is married with 3 adult children. She works full-time as an office manager in a busy law practice. She is a nonsmoker who exercised regularly until she started experiencing pain, which slowed her down. She drinks socially, and the only medication she takes is daily aspirin.

Patient history

Sylvia presented to her gynecologist with abnormal vaginal bleeding and pelvic/ abdominal pain. The suspected diagnosis was uterine leiomyosarcoma. A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Her treatment included a total hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy. The pathology report revealed a 6-cm uterine leiomyosarcoma, confined to the uterus. Sylvia was referred to a multidisciplinary oncology center for follow-up.

Treatment history

Postsurgical surveillance at 18 months revealed multiple lung nodules. Sylvia received a full course of anthracycline-based combination chemotherapy (doxorubicin and ifosfamide). Disease progression was observed within 6 months of treatment initiation.