angiosarcoma
Meaning of angiosarcoma: Angiosarcoma is a rare cancer arising from cells lining blood or lymph vessels, sometimes linked to chronic lymphedema or specific chemical exposures.
Definition of angiosarcoma
Angiosarcoma is a rare cancer that arises from the cells that normally line the inside of blood vessels or lymphatic vessels. Angiosarcoma arising from blood vessel lining cells is sometimes called hemangiosarcoma, while angiosarcoma arising from lymphatic vessel lining cells is called lymphangiosarcoma, though both are considered forms of the same underlying cancer type.
Angiosarcoma can develop in almost any part of the body, including the skin, breast, liver, and deep soft tissue, and it is associated with certain recognized risk factors, including longstanding lymphedema, a chronic swelling caused by impaired lymphatic drainage, prior radiation therapy to the affected area, and, for angiosarcoma of the liver specifically, past exposure to certain industrial chemicals such as vinyl chloride.
Because angiosarcoma can arise in so many different locations and can resemble other tumor types on imaging, confirming the diagnosis generally requires a tissue biopsy examined under a microscope.
How angiosarcoma is built
- angi/o Combining form · Greek vessel
- sarc/o Combining form · Greek flesh, connective tissue
- -oma Suffix · Greek tumour, mass, swelling
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
Used in a sentence
Biopsy of the skin lesion confirmed angiosarcoma in the area of longstanding lymphedema.
Good to know
Angiosarcoma developing within an area of longstanding lymphedema, sometimes referred to by the historical name Stewart-Treves syndrome, is a recognized pattern distinct from angiosarcoma arising without any preceding lymphedema.
Word origin
Where “angiosarcoma” comes from
Formed from Greek angeion, meaning vessel, and sarcoma, from sarx, meaning flesh, combined with the suffix -oma, meaning tumor.