[Angiosarcoma of the breast: 4 case reports and review of the literature]

Four cases of angiosarcoma of the breast, including three previously unpublished, form the starting point for a brief descriptive review of this extremely rare but fearsome tumour which accounts for only 0.04 per cent of breast malignancies. The contrast between the initially totally benign clinical appearance of this sarcoma and the dramatic prognosis of its advanced or metastatic forms against which adjuvant chemotherapy remains of only relative usefulness, leads the authors to chiefly discuss a diagnostic approach likely to speed recognition (histological diagnosis) and treatment (simple mastectomy) of a tumour with two troublesome features: its powerful metastatic potential being matched only by its extreme rarity which may cause clinicians, radiologists and histopathologists to use valuable time.