Paclitaxel in patients with advanced angiosarcomas of soft tissue: a retrospective study of the EORTC soft tissue and bone sarcoma group.
BACKGROUND
Angiosarcomas of soft tissue represent a heterogenous group of rare sarcomas with specific clinical behaviour and risk factors. Paclitaxel appears to induce tumour control in a higher proportion of patients with angiosarcoma, as compared to other sarcomas. The objective of this retrospective study was to assess the anti-tumour activity of this compound in a multicentre setting.


METHODS
Clinical data from patients with angiosarcomas of soft tissue treated with single agent paclitaxel were collected from the centres of the soft tissue and bone sarcoma group of EORTC, using a standardised data collection form. Paclitaxel could be given every three weeks, or weekly. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software.


RESULTS
Data from 32 patients were collected from 10 centres. There were 17 males, 15 females, with a median age of 60.4 years (range, 25-91). Primary angiosarcomas were located in scalp and face in 8 patients (25%) and at other primary sites in 24 patients (75%). All patients had intermediate (n=13) or high grade (n=19) primary tumours. Thirteen (40%) patients had been pretreated with doxorubicin-based first-line-chemotherapy and three of them (9%) had also received second-line chemotherapy with ifosfamide. Eleven (34%) patients had been irradiated before as treatment for angiosarcoma. In 8 (25%) patients, the angiosarcoma occurred at sites of prior radiation therapy for other malignancies. The response rate was 62% (21/32) in the whole series, 75% (6/8) in scalp angiosarcomas and 58% (14/24) in other primary sites. The median time to progression was 7.6 months (range, 1-42) for the whole group. For the face/scalp group it was 9.5 months, and for patients with angiosarcomas at other sites it was 7.0 months, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Paclitaxel was found to be an active agent in angiosarcoma of soft tissue in this retrospective analysis. These results need to be confirmed in a prospective randomised phase II study.
Schlemmer
M
M
Medical Clinic and Polyclinc III, Clinic Grosshadern Munich, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Muenchen, Germany. Marcus.Schlemmer@med.uni-muenchen.de
Reichardt
P
P
Verweij
J
J
Hartmann
J T
JT
Judson
I
I
Thyss
A
A
Hogendoorn
P C W
PC
Marreaud
S
S
Van Glabbeke
M
M
Blay
J Y
JY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005153:Facial Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012535:Scalp; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D017239:Paclitaxel