title: Primary angiosarcoma of the breast: observations in Asian Indian women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Primary angiosarcomas of breast are rare tumors, with a fatal outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied histological prognostic factors and c-kit expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 12 angiosarcomas accessioned at a cancer referral center in India.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients had primary angiosarcoma; no case of secondary angiosarcoma was accessioned during the study period. Median age of patients was 24.5 years. Nine patients had intermediate grade tumors, one a well differentiated tumor and three patients had high-grade tumors. Interesting cases encountered included an epithelioid angiosarcoma and an angiosarcoma arising on the background of a biphasic tumor. Eight patients had lumpectomy, four mastectomy and two patients were given radiotherapy. Of the nine patients (seven type I/II and two high grade) with follow up, eight patients developed disseminated metastases within a year of presentation. The patient with well-differentiated angiosarcoma also died of metastasis albeit after a longer time. On IHC c-kit staining was weakly seen in two cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Primary angiosarcoma was fatal in young Indian women even in lower grade tumors. The low expression of c-kit on IHC suggests that targeting this protein for therapy may not be successful in treating these tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, India. tanujashet@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Tanuja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shet
authors.forename: Alopa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malaviya
authors.forename: Mandar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nadkarni
authors.forename: Anagha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kakade
authors.forename: Vani
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parmar
authors.forename: Rajan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Badwe
authors.forename: Roshni
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chinoy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit