A Scary Onset of a Rare and Aggressive Type of Primary Breast Sarcoma: A Case Report

Ten-Year Survival of Breast Cancer in Iran: A National Study (Retrospective Cohort Study)

Purpose

This study aimed to estimate the 5- and 10-year survival rates of breast cancer in Iran.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study was performed in 2019 on breast cancer patients registered in the national cancer registry system of Iran during 2007-2014. The patients were contacted to collect their information and status (alive or dead). Age and pathological type of tumor were categorized into five groups, and the place of residence was divided into 13 regions. The Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards model were used for data analysis.

Results

A total of 87,902 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer during the study, 22,307 of whom were followed-up. The 5- and 10-year survival rates of the patients were 80% and 69%, respectively. The mean age of the patients was 50.68 ± 12.76 years (median age, 49 years). About 2.3% of the patients were male. The 5- and 10-year survival rates were 69% and 50% in men, respectively. The highest survival rate was reported in the age group of 40-49 years, and the lowest rate was found in the age group of ≥70 years. Of all pathological types, 88% were found in the invasive ductal carcinoma group; the highest survival rate was reported in the noninvasive carcinoma group. The highest survival rate was reported in the Tehran region and the lowest in the Hamedan region. Based on the results, the Cox proportional hazards model, sex, age group, and pathological type were statistically significant differences.

Conclusion

This nationwide study performed on breast cancer patients indicated an improvement in the overall survival rate of these patients over the past years (the 5-year survival rate increased from 71% in 2011 to 80% in the present study), which might be attributed to advances in cancer management.

A 53-year-old female with a large breast sarcoma: A case report from Hong Kong

Breast sarcomas are very rare and are aggressive tumors associated with a poor prognosis. We present a case of a 53-year-old female who presented to the hospital after noticing a palpable mass in the right breast. Mammography, ultrasound, and MRI investigations were done. The patient was treated with radical mastectomy combined with both neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Undifferentiated pleomorphic breast sarcoma was later diagnosed.

A rare case report of breast sarcoma

Malignant tumors that originate from the mesenchymal tissue of the mammary gland, known as breast sarcomas, are very rare and can be divided into 2 types: primary and secondary (therapy-related development). Breast sarcomas are aggressive tumors associated with a poor prognosis. Treatment options include the coordination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. We present a case of a 51-year-old female who presented to the hospital after noticing a palpable mass in the left breast and bloody nipple discharge. These symptoms lasted for more than 4 months. Postoperative histopathology revealed an undifferentiated pleomorphic breast sarcoma. After 8 months of treatment, the patient experienced metastasis to the brain and lungs.

Breast cancer, screening and diagnostic tools: All you need to know

Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies among women worldwide. Methods for screening and diagnosis allow health care professionals to provide personalized treatments that improve the outcome and survival. Scientists and physicians are working side-by-side to develop evidence-based guidelines and equipment to detect cancer earlier. However, the lack of comprehensive interdisciplinary information and understanding between biomedical, medical, and technology professionals makes innovation of new screening and diagnosis tools difficult. This critical review gathers, for the first time, information concerning normal breast and cancer biology, established and emerging methods for screening and diagnosis, staging and grading, molecular and genetic biomarkers. Our purpose is to address key interdisciplinary information about these methods for physicians and scientists. Only the multidisciplinary interaction and communication between scientists, health care professionals, technical experts and patients will lead to the development of better detection tools and methods for an improved screening and early diagnosis.

Understanding Breast cancer: from conventional therapies to repurposed drugs

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and is considered a developed country disease. Moreover, is a heterogenous disease, existing different types and stages of breast cancer development, therefore, better understanding of cancer biology, helps to improve the development of therapies. The conventional treatments accessible after diagnosis, have the main goal of controlling the disease, by improving survival. In more advance stages the aim is to prolong life and symptom palliation care. Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are the main options available, which must be adapted to each person individually. However, patients are developing resistance to the conventional therapies. This resistance is due to alterations in important regulatory pathways such as PI3K/AKt/mTOR, this pathway contributes to trastuzumab resistance, a reference drug to treat breast cancer. Therefore, is proposed the repurposing of drugs, instead of developing drugs de novo, for example, to seek new medical treatments within the drugs available, to be used in breast cancer treatment. Providing safe and tolerable treatments to patients, and new insights to efficacy and efficiency of breast cancer treatments. The economic and social burden of cancer is enormous so it must be taken measures to relieve this burden and to ensure continued access to therapies to all patients. In this review we focus on how conventional therapies against breast cancer are leading to resistance, by reviewing those mechanisms and discussing the efficacy of repurposed drugs to fight breast cancer.

The Role of Adjuvant Radiotherapy for a Case of Primary Breast Sarcoma: A Plan Comparison between Three Modern Techniques and a Review of the Literature

A 65-year-old woman, affected by a malignant fibrous histiocytoma (undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma) of the left breast, presented to our department to receive the postoperative radiotherapy. In the absence of prospective and randomized trials and investigations on breast sarcoma irradiation in literature, due to the rarity of this pathology, the role of adjuvant radiotherapy remains unclear. To identify the best radiotherapy technique for this patient, three methods were compared: 3D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), and volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) or RapidArc® (RA). 50 Gy was prescribed to the chest wall and 66 Gy to the tumor bed. Three plans were designed, and target coverage, organs-at-risk sparing, and treatment efficiency were compared. IMRT and RA improved both target coverage and dose uniformity/homogeneity. Planning objective for the lung is always satisfied comparing the different techniques, but the volume receiving 20 Gy drops to 17% by RA compared to 3D-CRT. The heart volume receiving 30 Gy was 10% by IMRT, against 13% and 16% by RA and 3D-CRT. The monitor unit (MU) required by 3D-CRT was 527 MU, followed by RA and IMRT. Treatment time was similar with 3D-CRT and RA but doubled using IMRT. Although all three radiotherapy techniques offered a satisfactory solution, RA and IMRT offer some improvement on target coverage, dose homogeneity, and conformity for this particular case of breast sarcoma.

Revisiting tumor patterns and penetrance in germline TP53 mutation carriers: temporal phases of Li-Fraumeni syndrome

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Germline pathogenic TP53 mutation may predispose to multiple cancers but penetrance and cancer patterns remain incompletely documented. We have analyzed international agency for research on cancer TP53 database to reevaluate age and variant-dependent tumor patterns.

RECENT FINDINGS

Genome-wide studies suggest that germline variants are more frequent than estimated prevalence of Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), suggesting that many carriers of potentially pathogenic mutations may not develop the syndrome. Carriers of a germline TP53 mutation who are detected in a clinical context have a penetrance of 80% at age 70. Penetrance varies according to age, sex and mutation type. Temporal tumor patterns show distinct phases, with childhood phase (0-15 years, 22% of all cancers) characterized by adrenal cortical carcinoma, choroid plexus carcinoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and medulloblastoma; early adulthood phase (16-50 years, 51%) including breast cancer, osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcomas, leukemia, astrocytoma and glioblastoma, colorectal and lung cancer; late adulthood phase (51-80 years, 27%) including pancreatic and prostate cancer.

SUMMARY

Germline pathogenic variants in TP53 gene have different consequences according to cell, tissue, context and age. The occurrence of frequent variants in patients with no criteria suggestive of LFS calls for attention in predicting individual risk and highlights the need of additional predictors for assigning carriers to appropriate surveillance programs.