Treatment of Angiosarcoma

Conventional treatment options are:

* Surgery

* Radiation

* Chemotherapy

* Angiogenesis inhibitors

Primary angiosarcoma is often treated with wide local excision, followed by radiotherapy, even for single lesions.

Diffuse infiltrations are common complications.

Two factors that affect treatments are the clinical size of tumor and degree of cellular differentiation.

Chemotherapy and chemo-radiation are found beneficial for patients who cannot have surgical resection. However, this treatment method depends on the location of the tumor because chemotherapy drugs are injected directly into the site of tumor growth.

Combination of these treatments: chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical resection, is recommended as the best defense against angiosarcoma. But the best sequence is not yet known; so each option is often individualized. Careful preparation and planning before surgery is very crucial.

Considered as one of the deadliest types of cancer in the world, angiosarcoma is usually untreatable when the disease is detected in the advanced stage. Early detection is necessary for treatments to be effective.

Modern drugs, like Paclitaxel and Sorafenib, have shown promising outcome as treatment for angiosarcoma of the face and scalp.

Angiogenesis inhibitors mainly work to prevent formation of new blood vessels so tumor will stop growing. These drugs even work better when combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Continuous medical research has discovered other possible future treatments so angiosarcoma can still be treated even when diagnosed at a later stage.

One promising outcome is the P53 tumor suppressor gene. Many cancers have mutated this gene, which is the main reason why the body cannot fight insidious tumors.