title: Single institutional experience of the treatment of angiosarcoma of the face and scalp.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Angiosarcoma is a rare malignant neoplasm with a poor prognosis. A retrospective study was performed to accumulate radiotherapy (RT) data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 17 patients with angiosarcoma of the face and scalp (AFS) who were treated with definitive RT between January 1999 and July 2011 were retrospectively analysed. The total radiation dose was 70 Gy, and the fractional doses were 2.0-2.5 Gy. Combined with RT, chemotherapy using docetaxel alone, recombinant interleukin-2 immunotherapy alone and both of these was performed in 10, 4 and 2 patients, respectively. Three patients underwent limited surgery before RT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 82%, and the median overall survival (OS) rate was 26 months. Locoregional relapse alone, distant metastasis alone and both of these were confirmed in 4, 5 and 4 patients, respectively. Patients treated with docetaxel showed a better prognosis (p=0.0477), a distant metastasis-free rate (p=0.0063) and a better in-field control rate, although the last was not statistically significant (p=0.1645).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Definitive RT combined with docetaxel chemotherapy provided an effective approach for treating AFS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since patients treated with chemoradiotherpy using docetaxel showed better OS and distant metastasis-free rates than those who did not receive docetaxel, it was warranted to continue use of docetaxel. In chemoradiotherapy at a dose of 70 Gy using docetaxel, 2-year in-field control rate was 67%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan. yoshitakamiki@gmail.com
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kamo
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Hosono
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamiya
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimatani
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ogino
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D000077143:Docetaxel; D005153:Facial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012535:Scalp / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D043823:Taxoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007376:Interleukin-2; D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel