Cutaneous angiosarcoma.
OBJECTIVE
To discuss the treatment and outcomes for cutaneous angiosarcoma.


METHODS
Review of the pertinent literature.


RESULTS
Cutaneous angiosarcoma is a rare, aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. It usually arises in the scalp or face and is locally advanced at presentation. Patients are most often white, male, and elderly. A subset of patients presents with multifocal disease and/or positive regional nodes. Although the optimal treatment is surgery followed by wide-field radiotherapy (RT), the disease is frequently so extensive at diagnosis that it is not completely resectable. Even after optimal local-regional treatment, there is a relatively high likelihood of a local recurrence at the margins of the RT fields. The probability of hematogenous dissemination is relatively high. Limited data suggest that chemotherapy may be useful for palliation with progression-free survival rates ranging from 1 to 5 months. The 5-year local-regional control rates are approximately 40% to 50%, the 5-year distant metastasis-free survival rates range from 20% to 40%, and the 5-year survival rates range from 10% to 30%.


CONCLUSIONS
Cutaneous angiosarcoma is a rare, aggressive malignancy that is optimally treated with resection and wide-field postoperative RT. The likelihood of local-regional failure is high, as is the risk of distant relapse. Chemotherapy may be useful for short-term palliation.
Mendenhall
William M
WM
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA. mendewil@shands.ufl.edu
Mendenhall
Charles M
CM
Werning
John W
JW
Reith
John D
JD
Mendenhall
Nancy P
NP
D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*