title: Large clinical experience of primary angiosarcoma of the breast in a single Korean medical institute.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Angiosarcoma of the breast is rare. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics and the clinical outcomes of patients with primary breast angiosarcoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the clinicopathologic factors of patients with angiosarcoma of the breast treated between 1997 and 2010 at the Samsung Medical Center. We reviewed the related demographic data, preoperative imaging studies, method of histologic confirmation, tumor size, histologic grades, status of hormonal receptors, treatment modality, and survival data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine women with angiosarcoma of the breast were identified. The median age of patients with primary angiosarcoma of the breast at diagnosis was 31 years (range: 19-63 years), and the median tumor size was 9.0 cm (range: 3.5-10.7 cm). Seven patients (77.7%) died within a median follow-up of 46.7 months (range: 3.9-63.3 months), and all deaths were directly attributed to angiosarcoma. Overall, the median time from diagnosis of angiosarcoma to death was 46.8 months (range: 8.21-63.3 months). The 5 year overall survival with angiosarcoma was 42.9%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Primary angiosarcoma of the breast is a rare malignancy with a poor prognosis, even with complete resection. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy have limited value as treatments to date. Total mastectomy appears to be the most appropriate and beneficial treatment. More aggressive surgical management should be considered, and future clinical research should explore the most appropriate adjuvant therapy in the treatment of angiosarcoma.
authors: Department of Surgery, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konkuk University School of Medicine, 4-12 Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-729, Republic of Korea.
authors: Soo Youn
authors: SY
authors: Bae
authors: Min-Young
authors: MY
authors: Choi
authors: Dong Hui
authors: DH
authors: Cho
authors: Jeong Eon
authors: JE
authors: Lee
authors: Seok Jin
authors: SJ
authors: Nam
authors: Jung-Hyun
authors: JH
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome