Splenic angiosarcoma following chemotherapy for follicular lymphoma

A case of splenic angiosarcoma in a patient who had been treated for a follicular lymphoma with chemotherapy over a period of about nine years is reported. The etiologic agents for angiosarcomas at various sites, and their associations with other tumors, are reviewed. The most important of these associations are radiotherapy and lymphedema with tumors of the skin and soft tissues; and vinyl chloride, arsenic, and thorium dioxide with hepatic tumors. For splenic angiosarcomas, only isolated associations with breast carcinoma and thorium dioxide exposure have been reported. In the present case long-term combination chemotherapy seems to be the most likely etiologic association.