Angiosarcoma of the eyelid: a clinicopathologic comparison between isolated unilateral tumors and tumors demonstrating extrapalpebral involvement.

Angiosarcomas involving the head and neck are malignant tumors which tend to involve multiple anatomical structures with an overall dismal prognosis. Reports of primary, isolated eyelid involvement are rare. We report 4 cases of angiosarcoma involving the eyelid as either an isolated tumor or as part of a more diffuse malignant process and compare the features of these 2 tumor types to cases reported in the literature. The mean age at which patients develop angiosarcoma involving the eyelid was 72. Patients with isolated tumors most often presented complaining of a discrete mass clinically resembling a stye. Patients with isolated eyelid involvement had better survival (100% at 3.2 years) compared with patients with diffuse disease (57% at 3.3 years). Those with isolated eyelid involvement have an average tumor size of 2.08 cm with no distant metastasis. Patients who have eyelid angiosarcoma with extrapalpebral involvement have tumors ranging between 5 and 10 cm on average and 21% develop metastases. True isolated angiosarcoma of the eyelid is rare. When extrapalpebral involvement is ruled out by clinical and radiographic examination, patients with isolated involvement seem to fare better compared with patients with eyelid involvement secondary to more regionally extensive tumors.