The patient is a 56-year-old male with a history of chronic lymphedema of the lower extremities that had been developing over the previous 20 years (Fig. 1). For the past two years, he had presented a mass on the anterolateral right leg with slow but progressive growth. He came to the emergency department due to bleeding of the mass, at which time he presented hemodynamic instability. Upon examination, we observed a hard, ulcerated, excretive lesion (Fig. 2). MRI showed evidence of a large solid mass that affected the 3 muscle planes, so we decided to perform supracondylar amputation.
Biopsy demonstrated histologic and immunohistochemistry findings compatible with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, stage pT2bN0M0 (AJCC stage III). Angiosarcomas that develop in areas of chronic lymphedema are a clinicopathological type of angiosarcoma that can present in different clinical situations, such as congenital lymphedema, chronic idiopathic lymphedema, chronic lymphedema secondary to filariasis and Stewart-Treves syndrome. Therapeutic options include limb amputation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, either as monotherapy or combined.
Please cite this article as: Necial M, Araújo de Pazos MÁ, de la Quintana Gordón M, Vázquez Rodríguez E. Degeneración maligna de linfedema crónico en miembro inferior por linfangiosarcoma. Cir Esp. 2015;93:e7.
