title: Post-radiation atypical vascular proliferation on the head of a young woman: a diagnostic challenge.
abstract: With improved outcomes associated with radiotherapy (RT), post-irradiation tumors are increasingly seen in long-term cancer survivors. We report a case of a young woman who presented with a three-year history of a vascular lesion on the temple, previously irradiated for a childhood brain tumor. The history of radiation, the clinical appearance, and the biopsy findings of an atypical vascular proliferation in the dermis, were worrisome for a malignant vascular neoplasm and prompted surgical excision. However, further tissue analysis of the excised specimen confirmed a benign atypical vascular lesion (AVL) overlying a banal pilar cyst. Distinguishing post-radiation benign from malignant vascular lesions can be difficult because they share overlapping clinical and histopathologic features. Thus, any vascular lesion that occurs in a previously irradiated field should be excised completely with tumor-free margins and examined histologically.
authors.affiliation: Weill Cornell Medical College.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: Hillary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Johnson-Jahangir
authors.forename: Garrett
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Desman
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avarbock
mesh_terms: D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D004814:Epidermal Cyst / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000473:pathology*; D009383:Neoplasms, Vascular Tissue / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult