[Skip to Navigation]
Sign In
JAMA Oncology Clinical Challenge
September 2, 2021

Unilateral Leg Swelling in a Young Woman

Author Affiliations
  • 1McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
JAMA Oncol. 2021;7(11):1709-1710. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2021.3811

A 33-year-old woman with a history of hereditary bilateral retinoblastoma as an infant presented to a primary care clinic with 1 week of right lower extremity swelling. At age 8 months, she was treated with right enucleation and left eye radiotherapy (50.4 Gy). At age 4 years, she developed a recurrence of the retinoblastoma in the nasal cavity and was treated with 4 cycles of vincristine, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide followed by 1 cycle of cisplatin, etoposide, and intrathecal cytarabine.

Add or change institution
1 Comment for this article
EXPAND ALL
Addl Information
Tea Marrocco, PhD | Mother of patient in article. College Professor.
Hello,
Tiffany had sent me this article as you were publishing. I was re-reading today and wanted to provide additional clarification about when the swelling was noted. The article reads that I noticed the swelling but Tiff did not. We both noticed it and for some time. She was told by the ER at her local hospital that it was not of concern but I urged her to continue seeking answers and then she was later diagnosed. The swelling was distinct and troublesome to her. So I did want to make sure that got edited if possible because rapidity
in diagnosis of Leiomyosarcoma is so crucial for these patients and in Tiff's case it took months as at first the swelling arose and abated. Later it became constant.

I also wanted to note that Tiff died of the disease December 25 2021. I'm not sure if it's pertinent to the article, but I did want the writers to know.

Please let me know if you receive this and if I can be of help in any other way.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None Reported
READ MORE
×