title: Cutaneous angiosarcoma of the head and face: a single-center analysis of treatment outcomes in 43 patients in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  For a better understanding of angiosarcoma, we summarized our 30-year experience of conventional treatment outcomes before the era of molecular-targeted therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective review of our 43 patients with cutaneous angiosarcoma of the head and face, and investigated the prognostic factors including the treatment strategy. Disease-specific survival (DSS) and event-free survival (EFS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, together with multivariate analyses using the Cox proportional hazard regression model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients were Japanese (25 males and 18 females), with a mean age of 72.1. For the initial treatment of the primary lesion, 34 patients underwent radiotherapy with or without taxanes (docetaxel and/or paclitaxel); only 6 patients underwent surgical excision. As the systemic adjuvant therapy, 19 patients were treated with taxanes and 15 with interleukin-2. Interestingly, patients who underwent the continued chemotherapy with taxanes had significantly prolonged DSS (5-year DSS, 57.0 vs. 19.6 %; median survival, 62.2 vs. 17.7 months; P = 0.0049) and EFS (5-year EFS, 34.9 vs. 5.6 %; median survival, 46.7 vs. 12.4 months; P = 0.0024) than the others. The continuous use of taxanes was also a prognostic factor in multivariate analyses. Neither radiotherapy nor surgical excision significantly influenced the patients' outcome. Among five patients who survived more than 5 years, three underwent surgical excision of the primary tumor or lung metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that continued chemotherapy with taxanes is important for patient survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan. takamiti@dermatol.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp.|Department of Anatomic Pathology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. takamiti@dermatol.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takamichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.|Division of Skin Surface Sensing, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakahara
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Gaku
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomic Pathology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management and Policy, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihito
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hagihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Masutaka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Furue
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Angiosarcoma; Pazopanib; Prognostic factor; Skin; Taxane; Treatment