title: Angiosarcoma of the breast and pregnancy: a new therapeutic approach.
abstract: A case of angiosarcoma of the breast managed primarily by a chemotherapeutic approach is referred. A 29-year-old patient presented complaining of a painful mass in her right breast. An incisional biopsy carried out under general anesthesia showed a moderately-differentiated angiosarcoma surrounded by fibrofatty tissue. Ruled out distant metastases, a decision was made to initiate neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of ifosfamide, vincristine and dactinimycin. After 2 courses of chemotherapy the tumor volume was reduced by 50% and the histologic examination of the mastectomy specimen revealed a well-differentiated angiosarcoma with widespread areas of necrosis probably produced by previous chemotherapic treatment. The patient is clinically free of disease after 24 months of follow-up. Although this is a single case report, and by no means can be considered a guideline for future treatments, we nevertheless feel that the result obtained with the chemotherapeutic approach with this patient is encouraging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital de Cruces (Ginecología), Universidad del Pais Vasco, Baracalado, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barrenetxea
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Tánago
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Centeno
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Escudero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003609:Dactinomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007069:Ifosfamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015413:Mastectomy, Simple; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic; D014750:Vincristine / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D003609:Dactinomycin; D014750:Vincristine; D007069:Ifosfamide