[Mesenchymal tumors after surgery and radiation therapy of breast carcinoma]

An account is given in this paper of 6 women aged between 41 and 70 years in whom mesenchymal tumors developed after surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for mammary carcinoma. Malignant fibrous histiocytoma developed in 2 women, five and a half or ten and a half years after primary therapy. Angiosarcoma (Stewart-Treves syndrome) was recorded from another 2 women, three and a half or ten years after primary treatment. One women exhibited a chondrosarcoma, following an interval of six and a half years. Premalignant early phase of Stewart-Treves syndrome was diagnosed, after 8 years, in a woman who was 41 years of age. The criteria for assumption of post-radiogenic secondary tumor, as demanded by Cahan et al. (1948), are discussed in some detail. Its avoidance or early detection is considered to depend on individual, stage-related therapeutic planning and long-term follow-up of patients who had undergone surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for mammary carcinoma.