Angiosarcoma of the Breast
Definition
- Malignant neoplasm of the breast exhibiting blood vascular differentiation
Diagnostic Criteria
- All grades are characterized by infiltration of breast parenchyma by cells exhibiting vascular differentiation
- Low grade tumors
- Prominent freely anastomosing vascular channels
- Papillary growth and endothelial tufting minimal to absent
- Cytologic atypia may be difficult to identify even after extensive sampling
- Intermediate grade tumors
- Freely anastomosing vascular channels
- Papillary growth and endothelial tufting
- May have focal solid areas with polygonal or spindle cells
- High grade tumors
- Prominent solid areas of clearly malignant cells
- Polygonal and spindled cells
- Blood lakes and necrosis are common
- Vascular channels may be difficult to identify
- May require extensive sampling, especially at edge of lesion
- Demonstration of vascular nature may require immunohistology
- Prominent solid areas of clearly malignant cells
- Awareness of the varying patterns exhibited by the above grades is useful for diagnostic purposes but it is not clear that it has any predictive value
Richard L Kempson MD
Robert V Rouse MD
Department of Pathology
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford CA 94305-5342
Original posting:: May 27, 2006
Last update: December 30, 2008