Primary angiosarcoma of the breast: observations in Asian Indian women

Primary angiosarcomas of breast are rare tumors, with a fatal outcome.

We studied histological prognostic factors and c-kit expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 12 angiosarcomas accessioned at a cancer referral center in India.

All patients had primary angiosarcoma; no case of secondary angiosarcoma was accessioned during the study period. Median age of patients was 24.5 years. Nine patients had intermediate grade tumors, one a well differentiated tumor and three patients had high-grade tumors. Interesting cases encountered included an epithelioid angiosarcoma and an angiosarcoma arising on the background of a biphasic tumor. Eight patients had lumpectomy, four mastectomy and two patients were given radiotherapy. Of the nine patients (seven type I/II and two high grade) with follow up, eight patients developed disseminated metastases within a year of presentation. The patient with well-differentiated angiosarcoma also died of metastasis albeit after a longer time. On IHC c-kit staining was weakly seen in two cases.

Primary angiosarcoma was fatal in young Indian women even in lower grade tumors. The low expression of c-kit on IHC suggests that targeting this protein for therapy may not be successful in treating these tumors.