Angiosarcoma Innovations

Angiosarcomas tend to have two patterns of growth. In one form they form hard white nodules; in the other, they form blood-filled blebs (looking something like blood blisters) that can be multiple in an area, and grow and spread in an irregular pattern near the surface of the skin, or as masses in soft tissue or other organs. Angiosarcomas have an equivalent protein within them that are found in vessel s; they typically contain blood vessel marker proteins CD31 and CD34. As a result they are usually easy to distinguish. It is necessary to differentiate angiosarcomas from hemangiomas, which are non-malignant (benign) collections of blood vessels. Angiosarcomashave a specific ability to recur near the location the tumor first started. As a result, it is more difficult to achieve a clean margin around these tumors at the time of a surgery. For the primary treatment of these tumors, surgery is most often employed, and radiation is often added to try to control the tumor locally. There is no evidence giving chemotherapy after surgical removal of the tumor increases one’s chance for survival. Treatment is also often made more difficult in the breast when the tumor follows a course of radiation; it is often possible to surgically remove the remaining tumor, but it becomes too dangerous to offer radiation to an equivalent area twice.    

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