Cutaneous angiosarcoma of the eyelids

Angiosarcoma of the eyelid is a rare potentially life threatening tumour arising from the vascular endothelium. Through the presentation of a case, the clinicopathological features and management of this condition are described. A 69 year old white man presented with multifocal red-blue maculopapular lesions located in his right cheek and eyelids (Fig 1A). The patient had first noticed the lesions 9 months previously. An incisional biopsy from the upper eyelid was performed. In subsequent staging investigations no metastases were found. The patient was otherwise in good health and was HIV negative. He underwent surgical resection of all clinically detectable lesions followed by adjuvant radiotherapy (total dose 45 Gy). After 34 months of follow up there was no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastases. Figure 1 (A) Magnified view of lid lesions. (B) Light micrograph showing well differentiated angiosarcoma characterised by distinct blood vessel formation. In areas, malignant endothelial cells pile up producing typical papillary projections into the lumina (short arrow) (PAS ×200). Histopathologically, the specimens consisted of skin and subcutaneous tissue. The lesions proved …