Clinical characteristics and surgical treatments of primary hepatic angiosarcoma

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Primary hepatic angiosarcoma is a very rare and highly malignant tumor with poor prognosis. It is difficult to diagnose because of the lack of typical clinical features, and the treatment protocols for PHA are also not clear. Therefore, this study wants to find out the clinical characteristics and surgical treatments of primary hepatic angiosarcoma. Methods Among 8990 patients diagnosed with primary malignant tumor of the liver from January 2000 to December 2019 in our hospital, only four patients were diagnosed with primary hepatic angiosarcoma. The demographics, clinical manifestation, past history, serology test results, MRI features, pathology, treatment modality and prognosis of four patients were collected and analyzed. Results Three of four patients had no clinical symptoms, while one patient's symptom was abdominal pain. The levels of tumor markers of all four patients were within the normal reference range and serological tests were negative for hepatitis B and C virus. The MRI imaging findings of all four patients were mixed mass with highly disordered vascular characteristics. All four patients were misdiagnosed preoperatively. One patient who underwent hepatic lobectomy was still alive for about 18 months after surgery. One patient who underwent hepatic lobectomy has survived for only 6 months due to severe pneumonia. The other two patients who received transarterial chemoembolization survived 16 months and 11 months respectively. Conclusion The clinical symptoms of primary hepatic angiosarcoma are not typical, and primary hepatic angiosarcoma is easily misdiagnosed. The typical imaging manifestations are structural disorder and heterogeneous tumor. Hepatic lobectomy and transarterial chemoembolization may be important surgical treatments to improve the prognosis of patients.