Angiosarcoma of the scalp

An 82-year-old woman was seen at our Dermatology Department for a plaque on the right parietal scalp that had recently increased in size, and bled. The lesion had been present for 3 months. The patient had a previous diagnosis of chronic bronchitis, noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and hypertension, but no previous history of cancer. Physical examination revealed a 7 x 10 cm plaque, composed of a central necrotic and bleeding surface, surrounded by small purple-red satellite nodules (Fig. 1). A biopsy showed an ill-defined infiltrative intradermal mass with a pattern of hypercellular sheets of large cells alternating with areas of dilated, irregular, blood-filled channels, dissecting the collagen bundles. The endothelial cells lining these channels were plump and pleomorphic, surrounded by other spindle-shaped cells with pleomorphic and atypical nuclei (Fig. 2). The diagnosis of angiosarcoma was made, and the patient was sent to an oncology center for further evaluation and treatment, where a computed tomography head scan was taken revealing no erosion of the skull. The patient refused surgery, so radiotherapy was proposed. One month later, she developed lymph node enlargement of the left anterior cervical nodes. A needle aspiration biopsy was consistent with sarcoma. Two weeks later, she was started on palliative radiotherapy: a programmed dose of 4500 cGy was proposed of which she only received 3000 cGy because of treatment withdrawal and loss to follow-up. During this time, she showed partial initial response, but despite treatment the disease relentlessly progressed, with hemorrhage and severe pain being the most striking features (Fig. 3).