Soft tissue angiosarcomas

From 1949 to 1979, 12 patients with soft tissue angiosarcoma received radiotherapy (alone or in combination with other modalities of treatment) with curative intent at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. The primary site was the head and neck in six patients (scalp, four; maxillary antrum, one; and oral tongue, one), the breast in four patients, and the thigh in two patients. All four patients with angiosarcoma of the scalp had advanced multifocal tumors, and two of them had clinically positive neck nodes. None of these tumors were controlled locally, and local recurrences occurred within and/or at a distance from the generous fields of irradiation. The remaining two patients with head and neck lesions had their disease controlled by surgery and postoperative irradiation. Three of the four angiosarcomas of the breast were primary cases which were treated by a combination of surgery (excisional biopsy, simple mastectomy, radical mastectomy) and postoperative irradiation. One patient also received adjuvant chemotherapy. The fourth patient was treated for scar recurrence after radical mastectomy. All four patients had their disease locally controlled, and two of them have survived over 5 years. The two patients with angiosarcoma of the thigh were treated by conservative surgical excision and postoperative irradiation. One patient had her disease controlled; the other had a local recurrence requiring hip disarticulation and subsequent hemipelvectomy for salvage