When Benign Becomes Cancer: Malignant Degeneration of Chronic Inflammation

Abstract

Chronic inflammation, long implicated in the genesis of malignancy, is now understood to underlie an estimated 25% of all cancers. The most pertinent malignancies, to the plastic surgeon, associated with the degeneration of chronic inflammation include Marjolin's ulcer, breast implant-associated large cell lymphoma, radiation-induced sarcoma, and Kaposi's sarcoma. The cellular and genetic damage incurred by a prolonged inflammatory reaction is controlled by an increasingly understood cytokinetic system. Advances in understanding the chronic inflammatory cascade have yielded new therapeutics and therapeutic targets. Publication Date: 06 July 2021 (online) © 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved. Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc. 333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA