A sleeve-shaped printing element for mounting on a carrying cylinder in a printing unit of a web-processing rotary printing machine. The element includes a structure formed of material permitting radial expansion of the sleeve-shaped printing element, the carrying cylinder has an elongated axial extent and being formed with ducts for discharging an expansion medium. The ducts open on a circumferential surface of the carrying cylinder, and the expansion medium is pressurizable by a pressure source. The sleeve-shaped printing element is formed with an inner diameter increasing from one end to the other end of the printing element, and is formed with an at least approximately constant wall thickness; and a combination of the printing element and the carrying cylinder.