Doctors at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY are part of a trial testing out a treatment for sarcoma, the type of cancer that killed famed fashion designer Virgil Abloh.

While sarcoma itself is rare, Abloh suffered from an even more rare type of the disease, Cardiac Angiosarcoma, which develops in the inner lining of blood vessels in the heart. The tumors then block blood flow in and out of the vital organ.

“The patient could present with shortness of breath on exertion, fatigue, chest pain, swelling of the lower extremities,” Dr. Anne Grand'Maison said.

Grand’Maison is the director of the Sarcoma Medical Oncology Program at Roswell Park.

“There are no more than a thousand Angiosarcoma diagnosed a year in the United States, and a very small portion of them are Cardiac Angiosarcoma, probably around 50 cases only,” says Grand’Maison.

The tumors tend to be aggressive and are more progressed by the time they are visible to doctors.

Currently there is no screening available to detect the disease sooner.

Grand’Maison says that because of the rarity of the disease, research has been difficult.

“Now we know more and more that all these sub-types of Sarcoma are all different, they have different biology, different genetics, so it is very important to study them individually, and that’s what we are doing more and more as a Sarcoma community,” says Grand’Maison.  

Currently, Roswell Park is in phase the midst of a trial with other cancer centers across the country including immunotherapy and targeted therapy in patients with Angiosarcoma.

Grand’Maison says no matter your risk for disease, early diagnosis and detection is the best course of action.

“Consult your physician to make sure any symptoms that are unusual be addressed,” says Grand’Maison.