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Updated: Jun 9, 2025
Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Gynecologic Cancer
Published on: April 17, 2012
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for radiation associated angiosarcoma (RAAS) of the breast: A retrospective single center
Stijn J C van der Burg1, Sophie J M Reijers1, Anke Kuijpers1
1Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL), Department of Surgical Oncology, Plesmanlaan 121, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Background:
Radiation associated angiosarcoma (RAAS) of the breast is a rare malignancy with poor survival. Optimal treatment strategies remain uncertain due to a lack of data, and vary between surgery alone and a combination of surgery with (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and/or re-irradiation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential benefit of taxane based NACT.
Methods:
In this retrospective single center study, all patients with RAAS of the breast treated between 1994 and 2024 are included. Since 2018, NACT is considered a treatment option for this patient population in our institute. The difference in oncological outcomes of patients with and without NACT were compared.
Results:
Thirty-five women were included. Thirteen (37 %) received NACT of which five (39 %) also had neoadjuvant re-irradiation with hyperthermia. Eleven patients (85 %) received paclitaxel, the other two (15 %) had doxorubicine/docetaxel. Complete pathological response was found in 69 % (n = 9). Median follow up was 41 months (range 24-56) for patients with NACT and 44 (range 20-108) for patients without NACT. In the NACT group, only one patient developed a recurrence after 6.5 years. Patients with NACT had improved oncological outcomes compared to patients without NACT in terms of 3-year local recurrence free survival (100% vs. 63.9 %, p = 0.14), distant metastasis free survival (100 % vs. 47.5 %, p = 0.005), and overall survival (100% vs. 56.1 %, p = 0.016).
Conclusion:
In this study, neoadjuvant taxanes for RAAS of the breast leads to improved distant metastasis free survival and overal survival in patients treated with NACT compared to no NACT.
