Angiosarcoma of the breast

Abstract

Background: Angiosarcoma of the breast is a rare entity. The objectives of this study were to evaluate prognostic factors and determine outcomes in a large contemporary series of patients.

Methods: Clinical and pathologic factors were analyzed in all patients with angiosarcoma of the breast treated between 1990 and 2003. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were estimated using the methods of Kaplan and Meier. Multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate prognostic factors.

Results: Fifty-five women with angiosarcoma of the breast were identified. The median age was 49.1 years, and the median follow-up time was 3.7 years. The median OS and DFS were 2.96 years and 2.26 years, respectively. For the 32 patients with primary angiosarcoma of the breast 5-year OS was 59%. Twenty-three (42%) patients had received prior radiation therapy for the treatment of breast cancer. These patients with radiation therapy-associated angiosarcoma were on average 30 years older and less likely to present with distant metastatic disease than patients presenting with radiation-naive angiosarcoma of the breast. Although radiation-naive patients appeared to have had better early DFS and OS, the Kaplan-Meier curves were not statistically different between patients with radiation therapy-associated disease and radiation therapy-naive patients. On multivariate analysis, tumor recurrence (P = 0.006) was the only significant adverse prognostic factor noted for OS.

Conclusions: In this series of 55 patients with angiosarcoma of the breast, radiation therapy-naive angiosarcomas occurred in younger patients, but they behaved similarly to radiation therapy-associated angiosarcomas.