Table of contents:
- What is an angiosarcoma?
- What are the causes of angiosarcoma?
- Signs and symptoms of angiosarcoma
- Can angiosarcoma cancer be treated?
- 1. Operation
- 2. Radiation therapy
- 3. Chemotherapy
Cancer is a disease that occurs when normal body tissue cells grow rapidly and out of control. Of the many types of cancer, you may have more or less heard of the symptoms of breast cancer, cervical cancer, or brain cancer. However, have you ever heard of the types of angiosarcoma cancer? If not, let's find out the complete information below.
What is an angiosarcoma?
Angiosarcoma is a rare type of cancer that forms inside the lining of blood vessels and lymph vessels. In fact, these lymph vessels play a role in collecting bacteria, viruses, or other waste products to be excreted from the body. In other words, these lymph vessels are important for maintaining your body's immune system.
When the lymph vessels are attacked by cancer, the body will certainly find it difficult or even unable to flush the bacteria and viruses from the body. As a result, your immune system continues to decline over time.
Indeed, cancer can appear in any part of the body, as well as angiosarcomas. However, this type of cancer occurs most often on the scalp and neck.
Because these cancer cells form in the lining of the blood vessels, it is possible that other organs of the body are attacked by angiosarcomas. In rare cases, angiosarcoma cancer cells can grow and develop in the breast, liver, or heart. Angiosarcoma that occurs in the heart will generally trigger heart cancer.
What are the causes of angiosarcoma?
Until now, the cause of angiosarcoma is still unclear. Experts suspect that this condition begins with changes in the structure (mutations) of genes that occur in the lining of blood vessels and lymph.
In addition, there are several things that can increase a person's risk of developing angiosarcoma, including:
- Radiation therapy. Reporting from the Mayo Clinic health research center, angiosarcoma usually occurs 5-10 years after radiation therapy is completed.
- Swelling due to damage to lymph vessels (lymphedema). This can be caused by several things such as lymph node surgery, infection, or other conditions.
- Chemical material. Types of liver angiosarcoma generally occur as a result of constant exposure to chemicals in the body, such as vinyl chloride and arsenic.
Signs and symptoms of angiosarcoma
The signs and symptoms of angiosarcoma vary, depending on where the cancer cells grow. If angiosarcoma attacks the skin of the neck and head, it will cause the following symptoms:
- Areas of skin appear purple like bruises
- The bruise was getting bigger day by day
- Bruised lesions may bleed if scratched or bumped
- The skin around the lesion swells
Meanwhile, angiosarcomas that have spread to vital organs of the body, such as the liver or heart, are even more difficult to detect. You may only feel pain in the part of the body that is affected by cancer.
For example, cardiac angiosarcoma makes you feel pain in the chest. Meanwhile, angiosarcoma of the liver causes pain in the right side of the abdomen.
Can angiosarcoma cancer be treated?
Just like other types of cancer, angiosarcoma can be treated with proper treatment. Again, angiosarcoma cancer treatment depends on the location of the cancer originating.
Various angiosarcoma cancer treatments that can be done include:
1. Operation
Surgery or surgery is often the first choice for treating angiosarcoma. This procedure aims to remove or remove cancer cells and some of the surrounding healthy tissue.
However, if the cancer cells are too large or have already spread to other organs, then another cancer treatment is needed to overcome them.
2. Radiation therapy
When surgery cannot be performed, angiosarcoma patients are usually advised to undergo radiation therapy. Radiation therapy makes use of X-rays or other high-energy rays to kill or remove any remaining cancer cells in the body.
3. Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment procedure that uses drugs or chemicals to be taken by mouth or injected into a patient's vein. This cancer treatment is mostly chosen to kill or stop the growth of cancer cells.
Chemotherapy is generally used when an angiosarcoma patient cannot undergo surgery. Or it could also be an additional cancer treatment after radiation therapy is complete.
