Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Nov;85(1019):e1127-33.
doi: 10.1259/bjr/31655219. Epub 2012 Jul 17.

Treatment and prognosis of angiosarcoma of the scalp and face: a retrospective analysis of 48 patients

K Ogawa  1 , K Takahashi, Y Asato, Y Yamamoto, K Taira, S Matori, S Iraha, N Yagi, A Yogi, S Haranaga, J Fujita, H Uezato, S Murayama
Affiliations

Treatment and prognosis of angiosarcoma of the scalp and face: a retrospective analysis of 48 patients

K Ogawa et al. Br J Radiol. 2012 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to retrospectively analyse the treatment results of clinically localised angiosarcoma of the scalp and face.

Methods: The records of 48 patients who were treated between 1987 and 2009 were reviewed. single modality or a combination of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy were administered. The median follow-up of all 48 patients was 13.7 months (range 2.5-105.9 months).

Results: At the time of analysis, 45 of 48 patients (93.8%) had disease recurrences, and the lung was the most frequent site for recurrence (37 patients). In multivariate analysis, performance status (PS) and number of tumours were significant predictors of lung-metastasis-free (LMF) rate. For patients with multifocal tumours, chemotherapy use significantly decreased the LMF rate (p=0.0072). The 2-year actuarial overall survival (OS), progression-free survival and local control rates in all 48 patients were 22.1%, 10.7% and 46.3%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, PS, number of tumours, surgery and radiotherapy were significant prognostic factors for OS. Patients treated with both surgery and radiotherapy (2-year OS: 45.8%) had a significantly more favourable OS (p<0.0001) than patients treated with either surgery or radiotherapy (2-year OS: 11.1%) and patients treated with neither surgery nor radiotherapy (2-year OS: 0%).

Conclusions: Our results indicated that PS and number of tumours were significant predictors for developing lung metastases. Our results also indicated that PS, number of tumours, surgery use and radiotherapy use were independent prognostic factors for OS. Multimodal treatments including surgery and radiotherapy were effective in improving OS for patients with these tumours. Advances in knowledge Multimodal treatments including surgery and radiotherapy are effective in improving overall survival for patients with angiosarcoma of the scalp and face.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Lung metastasis-free rates in patients with multiple tumours according to chemotherapy (CH) use.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall survival (OS) curves by Kaplan–Meier method according to administration of radiotherapy (RT) and surgery (SR) in patients with angiosarcoma of the face and scalp.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hodgkinson DJ, Soule EH, Woods JE. Cutaneous angiosarcoma of the head and neck. Cancer 1979;44:1106–13 - PubMed
    1. Holden CA, Spittle MF, Jones EW. Angiosarcoma of the face and scalp, prognosis and treatment. Cancer 1987;59:1046–57 - PubMed
    1. Mendenhall WM, Mendenhall CM, Werning JW, Reith JD, Mendenhall NP. Cutaneous angiosarcoma. Am J Clin Oncol 2006;29:524–8 - PubMed
    1. Kitagawa M, Tanaka I, Takemura T, Matsubara O, Kasuga T. Angiosarcoma of the scalp: report of two cases with fatal pulmonary complications and a review of Japanese autopsy registry data. Virchows Arch A Pathol Anat Histopathol 1987;412:83–7 - PubMed
    1. Nomura M, Nakaya Y, Saito K, Miyoshi H, Kishi F, Hibino S, et al. Hemopneumothorax secondary to multiple cavitary metastasis in angiosarcoma of the scalp. Respiration 1994;61:109–12 - PubMed

MeSH terms