Cutaneous angiosarcoma in a site of healed herpes zoster.

A 57-year-old woman presented with an erythematous plaque of the left postauricular area that was diagnosed as metastatic carcinoma on clinical and histologic bases. It was revealed that herpes zoster had been diagnosed in the same dermatomal distribution 10 years previously. The lesion recurred 2 years after irradiation, and angiosarcoma was diagnosed. Recent evidence linking viral infection and vascular tumors is examined as it might apply to the pathogenesis of angiosarcoma. Repeat biopsy, reticulum stain, and electronmicroscopic examination of a lesion of the head and neck region that histologically suggests metastatic carcinoma are recommended if no primary malignancy is discovered.