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Review
. 2024 Jan 4;86(3):1601-1605.
doi: 10.1097/MS9.0000000000001584. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Primary hepatic angiosarcoma: a systematic review

Santiago Rojas  1 , Carlos Eduardo Rey Chaves  1 , Sofía Robledo  2 , Danny Conde  3 , Juan Carlos Sabogal Olarte  4
Affiliations
Review

Primary hepatic angiosarcoma: a systematic review

Santiago Rojas et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

Background: Hepatic angiosarcoma is a rare type of tumour. In adults, the diagnosis remains challenging as the clinical manifestations are generally nonspecific and are usually made too late when complications or metastases are already present, associated with a poor prognosis. Due to the lack of agreement regarding the optimal treatment approach, a comprehensive analysis of the evidence in the literature on the surgical and survival outcomes in terms of disease-free survival time (DFS) and overall survival (OS) for patients treated for primary hepatic angiosarcoma is needed.

Study design: A systematic review of articles published in Pubmed, EMBASE, and Scopus, from 2000 to 2023 with the search terms hepatic angiosarcoma and liver resection or hepatectomy. Pooled individual data concerning the prognosis following various therapies was analyzed.

Results: A total of 15 articles involving 886 patients were eligible for inclusion. The male population represents 66.2% (n=586) of the population, with a median age of 57 years (41-66). The median survival rate was 7 months. The median OS after surgical resection was 17.18 months (SD 12.6) vs. 3.72 months (SD 4.6) for patients treated without a surgical approach. The median DFS was 15.2 months (SD 11).

Conclusion: Primary liver angiosarcoma remains a surgical challenge with a poor prognosis even with complete surgical resection and adjuvant therapy. Surgical management shows increased overall survival in comparison with non-surgical management. Early diagnosis could change the natural history of the disease. The literature available is scarce, and further studies are required to create standardized diagnostic and treatment protocols.

Keywords: liver angiosarcoma; liver tumour; outcomes; surgery; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors declare any conflicts of interest.Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) flow chart of the eligible study selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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