Treatment for Angiosarcoma
Angiosarcoma is a rare but extremely insidious type of cancer. The tumors grow and spread rapidly but not easily detected. When symptoms appear, the disease is typically well in the advanced stage. When diagnosis is delayed, treatment for angiosarcoma is usually late and ineffective.
Survival rate can be higher when cancer is given conventional but aggressive combination of treatment options like:
*Chemotherapy
*Radiation Therapy
*Surgery
These rare tumors are invasive and malignant. Angiosarcomas start on the cells that make up the lining of blood vessels. Characterized by wide infiltration and very rapid spreading, this cancer may occur in breast, bone, liver, spleen or the heart. It may occur in any organ of the body. Tumors that appear on the neck and head are called Cutaneous Angiosarcoma.
With primary angiosarcomas, surgical resection is usually used. The main purpose is to be able to define tumor-free margins more accurately. Tumors are easier to detect at microscopic level than at the cellular level. Radiotherapy is also performed as part of the treatment regimen. There are case studies that show positive outcome (i.e. higher survival rate) when radiation followed the resection procedure. However, radiotherapy is not recommended as primary treatment.
Chemotherapy treatment is performed through the direct injection of drugs into the tumor site. The combination of radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery are often recommended but the question which comes first? remains unanswered. So for the time being, treatment is still done individually. Diagnosis before operation and careful planning for surgery are always regarded as crucial factors for treatments to be effective. Patients who cannot undergo surgical procedures are treated with chemotherapy and/or chemo-radiation.
These treatment options, even when aggressive, are not effective if the tumor is diagnosed in its more advanced stage. Prognosis, therefore, is often poor.
Continuous researches on other possible treatments for angiosarcoma have resulted to angiogenesis inhibitors (i.e. Paclitaxel and Sorafenib), which shown promising results; and the P53 tumor suppressor gene. The body has this gene naturally but many cancers have mutated it so resistance to these killer diseases has become difficult.
