Abstract
Seventy-one patients with angiosarcoma were treated in our department during a 21-year period between 1987 and 2008. Sixty of them had angiosarcoma of the scalp, and the total number of follow-up patients was fifty-five. Of the 55 patients, 19 until 2000 were treated mainly with IL-2/LAK immunotherapy, and 36 after 2001 were treated according to our stage-distinct remedy strategy established in 2003. The basic therapeutic plan of our strategy is complete radiotherapy followed by continuous “taxoid”-chemotherapy for six months at least to prevent recurrence. As a result, our strategy indicated a better prognosis than immunotherapy only. However, lung-metastasis is still a main cause of death. Intra-pleural chemo-therapy introduced by us makes it possible to mitigate a poor prognosis.[Skin Cancer (Japan) 2009 ; 24 : 377-384]
