Angiosarcoma of the head and the neck: Clinical analysis of 21 cases

Abstract

Objective: To study the clinical manifestations of the head and neck angiosarcoma and the relationship of the staging with clinical treatment and prognosis. Methods: The clinical data of 21 patients with head and neck angiosarcoma treated in our hospital between January 1993 and January 2008 were retrospectively analyzed. By studying the medical records of all patients and reviewing the related literatures, we discussed the clinical manifestations of these patients and the relationship of staging with clinical treatment and prognosis of head and neck angiosarcoma based on soft tissue sarcoma staging of AJCC2002'6th. SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis. We calculated the survival rate using Kaplan-Meier method and compared the survival curves using log rank test. Results: Among these 21 cases, 10 were treated with non-combined treatment, and the other 11 cases were treated with combined treatment. There were 6 stage Ⅰ cases, 3 stage Ⅱ cases, 1 stage Ⅲ case, and 11 stage Ⅳ cases. The 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year total survival rates were 72.2%, 41.3%, 27.5% and 13.8%, respectively. The average time of recurrence or metastasis was 4 months. Twelve cases had local recurrence (accounting for 57.1%), and 11 cases had distant metastasis (accounting for 52.4%). The metastatic sites included lymph node in 5 cases, lung in 4 cases, liver in 1 case, and bone in 1 case. Different treatment modalities (x~2=8.31, P=0.004) and tumor staging (x~2=9.74, P= 0.002) were prognostic factors. Conclusion: There are no unified treatment strategies for angiosarcoma of the head and the neck. The overall prognosis is still not ideal. Biological treatment has been applied to clinical practice. Preoperative combined treatment has positive results. Tumor staging is an important factor affecting the prognosis. Surgery-based combined treatment can improve patient survival.