Lymphangiosarcoma causes

Causes of Lymphangiosarcoma
It was previously a relatively common complication of the massive lymphedema of the arm which followed removal of axillary (arm pit) lymph nodes and lymphatic channels as part of the classical Halstedian radical mastectomy, as a treatment for breast cancer. The classical radical mastectomy was abandoned in most areas of the world in the late 1960's to early 1970's, being replaced by the much more conservative modified radical mastectomy and, more recently, by segmental breast tissue excision and radiation therapy. Because of this change in clinical practice lymphedema is now a rarity following breast cancer treatment - and post-mastectomy lymphangiosarcoma is now vanishingly rare. When it occurs following mastectomy it is known as Stewart-Treves Syndrome.