Vascular
tumors of the soft tissue display a wide spectrum of histologic features and
biologic behavior. Flow cytometric
DNA analysis was performed on 40 vascular
tumors, including nine African endemic-type Kaposi's
sarcomas, nine
angiosarcomas, seven
hemangiopericytomas, six
glomus tumors, and nine
capillary hemangiomas. Six of the nine
angiosarcoma cases (67%) and one of the seven
hemangiopericytomas cases (14%) were
aneuploid. All benign vascular
tumors and Kaposi's
sarcomas were diploid. Clinically, five of the six
angiosarcoma patients with
aneuploidy died within 2 to 28 months, while the remaining patient, who had the smallest
tumor (2 x 1 cm), survived more than 4 years after the initial diagnosis was made. All three
angiosarcoma patients with diploidy died within 10 to 14 months. One
hemangiopericytoma patient with
aneuploidy died within 1 month. No cases of benign
tumor recurred. These results suggest that most vascular
tumors, which generally follow a benign
clinical course, were diploid and that the majority of those with a poor outcome were
aneuploid. However, flow cytometrically assessed
DNA ploidy has no prognostic value in
angiosarcomas or
hemangiopericytomas.