title: Angiosarcoma of the scalp with complete response to a biweekly gemcitabine and docetaxel (GEMDOC) chemotherapy regimen.
abstract: Angiosarcoma is a rare, aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma with a high rate of recurrence and distant metastasis. Only a few cases of angiosarcoma involving the scalp have been reported in the literature. We describe a case involving a 75-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department at the Detroit Medical Center with multiple painful scalp lesions. She had had similar lesions intermittently for several years that apparently had responded to treatment with antifungal creams, but those occurring in the 6 months before her presentation had not responded to that therapy. The final diagnosis was a metastatic angiosarcoma. The patient achieved complete remission following treatment with a combination chemotherapy regimen consisting of gemcitabine (1,500 mg/m²) and docetaxel (50 mg/m²) administered biweekly. The patient was free of disease at the 15-month follow-up. This regimen is well tolerated and should be considered, especially in elderly patients and patients with comorbid conditions who may not tolerate other chemotherapeutic regimens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wayne State University, and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, MI, USA. mshkoukani@gmail.com
authors.forename: Mahdi A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shkoukani
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carron
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tulunay
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kucuk
authors.forename: Ho-Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D000077143:Docetaxel; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D012535:Scalp / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D043823:Taxoids; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D000077143:Docetaxel; D000093542:Gemcitabine