Mastectomy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Mastectomy, including details on breast cancer, prosthesis, recovery, surgery, complications.

Angiosarcoma of the breast.

Vorburger SA, Xing Y, Hunt KK, Lakin GE, Benjamin RS, Feig BW, Pisters PW, Ballo MT, Chen L, Trent J, Burgess M, Patel S, Pollock RE, Cormier JN

The Multidisciplinary Sarcoma Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, 77230, USA.

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.

Published 14 December 2005 in Cancer, 104(12): 2682-8.
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