EPITHELIOID HEMANGIOENDOTHELIOMA OF BONE

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of bone is a rare tumor of vascular o rigin. A series of 40 cases from the Mayo Clinic files was studied to define the pathologic features of this disease and to evaluate any his tologic or clinical factor influencing outcome. More than 50% of the t umors were multicentric, with a predilection for bones of a particular anatomical area. In this series, patients with multifocal tumors did not have a better prognosis than those with unicentric disease. We cou ld not predict the outcome of cases on the basis of the histologic fea tures. Visceral involvement was the most important criterion in predic ting prognosis. Resection is still the primary treatment for these tum ors. Radiotherapy may be useful for surgically inaccessible tumors. To o few patients have received adjuvant chemotherapy to evaluate its use fulness in this setting.