[A case of Stewart-Treves syndrome--treatment with recombinant interleukin 2 and a review of Japanese literature]

Nihon Hifuka Gakkai Zasshi. 1990 Sep;100(10):1029-39.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

A 76-year-old woman developed angiosarcoma 11 years after a radical mastectomy in the chronic lymphedema of the ipsilateral arm, referred to as Stewart-Treves syndrome. The patient was treated by intravenous and intralesional injection of recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL-2; TGP-3, Takeda Chemical Industries, LTD, Osaka). Intralesional injection was more effective than systemic administration. After a month, the lesion where the local injection was done showed little tumor cells with a dense infiltrate composed of lymphoid cells. It was observed that NK activity, LAK activity and IL-2 receptor positive T-cells in the peripheral blood increased during the administration of rIL-2. As the lesion was too large to be treated with rIL-2 alone, radiotherapy was performed. But the patient had no remarkably improvement and died 16 months later from the onset. Immunotherapy with rIL-2 can be useful for angiosarcoma and more effective regimen of rIL-2 is a important problem.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • English Abstract
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Breast Neoplasms / surgery
  • Chronic Disease
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Injections, Intradermal
  • Interleukin-2 / therapeutic use*
  • Lymphangiosarcoma / immunology
  • Lymphangiosarcoma / pathology
  • Lymphangiosarcoma / therapy*
  • Lymphedema / complications
  • Mastectomy, Radical
  • Neoplasms, Multiple Primary
  • Recombinant Proteins / therapeutic use
  • Skin Neoplasms / immunology
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology
  • Skin Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Syndrome

Substances

  • Interleukin-2
  • Recombinant Proteins