Angiosarcoma. A rare secondary malignancy after breast cancer treatment

Life-saving mastectomy and radiation therapy are established in the treatme nt of early stage breast cancer. Angiosarcoma, i.e. malignant angioendothel ioma, is a rare tumor which can develop after several years of such treatme nt. The number of post-operative and post-irradiation angiosarcomas has inc reased in recent years. We report four cases of angiosarcoma which occurred after treatment of breast cancer and review the literature. In two of thes e caces the angiosarcoma developed on the irradiated breast skin after part ial mastectomy and radiation therapy, in the other two cases the angiosarco ma appeared on a chronically edematous arm after radical mastectomy and rad iation therapy.