Cutaneous Angiosarcoma Following Conservative Surgery and Radiotherapy for Breast Carcinoma. A Case Report

Overview

Breast angiosarcomas (AS) are very rare neoplasms, which can be divided into primary (or sporadic), and secondary AS, the latter arising either on the base of lymphoedema after mastectomy (so called AS with Stewart-Treves syndrome- ASSTS), or skin AS after breast conservation surgery with subsequent radiotherapy for breast cancer (KPRAS).

The authors present a case of a 55-year-old female patient with a 17mm tumour in nipple region, developing 8 years after primary diagnosis of tubulolobular carcinoma of the breast which was treated by breast conservation surgery and radiotherapy. A probatory bioptic examination of the lesion proved well-differentiated KPRAS. The patient underwent mastectomy.

The authors analyse the basic clinical and morphological features of KPRAS, which distinguish it from other forms of AS, e.g. occurrence in older age, shorter period of latency after radiation therapy when compared to ASSTS, absence of lymphoedema, and rare involvement of the breast tissue. Prognosis of this entity is very poor; today the most reliable prognostic marker is histological grading. However, it will be needed to assess in the future new indicators of prognosis of patients with this rare disease.

Key words:
angiosarcoma – breast – radiotherapy