• About 10 percent of people with von Recklinghausen's disease, a rare genetic abnormality affecting nerves, will develop neurofibrosarcoma. Malignant schwannomas may also develop as part of the condition. • Other genetically linked diseases that have a slightly increased incidence of associated sarcomas include Werner's syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, intestinal polyposis, basal cell nevus syndrome and Gardner's syndrome. • Lymphangiosarcoma is associated with people who have chronic swelling of an arm or leg and rarely may develop after many years in a swollen arm after mastectomy. • Fibrosarcomas may develop after high dose radiation formerly given for benign conditions, such as tuberculosis of the joints or thyroid disease. • The risk of angiosarcoma of liver increases with exposure to thorotrast (no longer in use), arsenic, vinyl chloride or in association with cirrhosis or hemochromatosis. • The risk of osteosarcoma increases with radiation exposure, and sarcomas of both bone and soft tissue can occur many years after radiotherapy , especially if it was given in childhood. Radiation exposure causes less than 5 percent of osteosarcomas and fibrosarcomas, however. (Many years ago, exposure to radium caused osteosarcomas in painters of glow-in-the-dark watch faces.) • Various causes of chronic irritation or stimulation to bones, including chronic bone infection, fracture and Paget's disease increase the risk. • Sarcomas have developed in old scars or areas of trauma, but any definite cause has not been proved.