[Stewart-Treves syndrome of the edematous arm following breast cancer operation].

Abstract

In 1948, Stewart and Treves (158) described a lymphangiosarcoma on the edematous arm for the first time with reference to six cases involving arm edema after breast cancer operation. Since their publication, a further 313 cases have become known. In 1982, with communication of one case we published a statistical compilation comprising of 248 cases (Zeitschrift für Lymphologie VI, 1982, 51-66). A statistical compilation totalling 290 observations is now presented on the basis of further studies of the older literature supplemented by observations of the last six years including two of our own cases. So far, a total of 319 single observations has become known: 21 cases of Yap et al. (182), eight cases of Oshmianskaia et al. (123) and 290 cases in the statistical compilation we have drawn up and which is the basis of this publication. By histological investigation of the tissue material taken from a female patient within six weeks (exploratory excision, radical excision), detailed information could be obtained on the histological development of the Stewart-Treves-Syndrome (STS) from a preneoplasia to a mature lymphangiosarcoma. The second female patient is a relatively rare observation of an STS of fulminant course which remained restricted to the extremity, chest wall and neighboring parts of the back during the entire course.