Angiosarcoma.
Angiosarcomas are rare soft-tissue sarcomas of endothelial cell origin that have a poor prognosis. They can arise anywhere in the body, most commonly presenting as cutaneous disease in elderly white men, involving the head and neck and particularly the scalp. They can be caused by therapeutic radiation or chronic lymphoedema and hence secondary breast angiosarcomas are an important subgroup. Recent work has sought to establish the molecular biology of angiosarcomas and identify specific targets for treatment. Interest is now focused on trials of vascular-targeted drugs, which are showing promise in the control of angiosarcomas. In this review we discuss angiosarcoma and its current management, with a focus on clinical trials investigating the treatment of advanced disease.
Academic Unit of Surgical Oncology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. r.j.young@shefeld.ac.uk
Robin J
RJ
Young
Nicola J
NJ
Brown
Malcolm W
MW
Reed
David
D
Hughes
Penella J
PJ
Woll
D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome