Angiosarcoma arising in an irradiated breast. A case report and review of the literature.

The authors discuss an angiosarcoma that developed in a 50-year-old woman's breast 10 years after she underwent conventional postoperative irradiation with cobalt 60 teletherapy. Although angiosarcoma developing in a lymphedematous arm after radical mastectomy is a well-known phenomenon, and several cases of angiosarcoma are known to have occurred in the chest wall after mastectomy with or without irradiation, only one other case of angiosarcoma in an irradiated breast has been reported. The possible role of therapeutic irradiation in inducing this malignancy is discussed.