Postmastectomy lymphangiosarcoma: a reappraisal of the concept—a critical review and report of an illustrative case

Abstract

The syndrome of postmastectomy lymphangiosarcoma (LAS) has been universally accepted since it was first outlined. A small number of authors concluded that the neoplasma arising in the chronic lymphoedematous arms were in fact due to retrograde spread from the original breast carcinoma, but their views have been largely ignored. A case is reported in whom neoplastic arm lesions appeared 27 yr after mastectomy and were due to recent metastases from a new primary carcinoma of the lung. The validity of the entire concept of LAS is re-examined.