Breast Cancer in Cowden Syndrome: Manifestation of a Familial Cancer Syndrome

Hereditary breast cancer associated with Cowden syndrome-related PTEN mutation with Lhermitte-Duclos disease

BACKGROUND

Cowden syndrome is characterized by multiple hamartomas in various tissues, including the skin, brain, breast, thyroid, mucous membrane, and gastrointestinal tract, and is reported to increase the risk of malignant disease.

CASE PRESENTATION

We describe the case of a 52-year-old woman in whom a tumor was diagnosed in the left cerebellar hemisphere and treated by surgical resection. Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) mutation in exon 8 insertion was found in the brain tumor tissue and leukocytes. This finding supported the diagnosis of Cowden syndrome. She consequently developed endometrial cancer and underwent abdominal total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Four years later, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer was found in the right breast, and breast-conserving surgery with radiation therapy and sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed.

CONCLUSIONS

Herein, we describe a patient who was diagnosed as having familial breast cancer associated with PTEN mutation-related Cowden syndrome. We also reviewed reports of this syndrome in the literature for disease appraisal.

Survival outcome in endometrial cancer patients according to hereditary predisposition

OBJECTIVE

A familial history of ovarian cancer/breast cancer is considered a significant prognostic factor for ovarian cancer. We investigated hereditary factors by examining the incidence of synchronous malignancy in patients with endometrial cancer, and assessed the prognostic role of heredity in endometrial cancer.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated patients with endometrial cancer who underwent surgery from January 2001 to April 2011. A hereditary background in this study was defined as double primary cancer, that is, endometrial cancer accompanied by colon, ovarian, or breast cancer suggestive of Lynch syndrome, hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome, or Cowden syndrome, respectively.

RESULTS

Among 282 patients with endometrial cancer in the study population, 20 patients (7.1%) had a hereditary predisposition: 10 patients (3.5%) had ovarian cancer, six patients (2.1%) had breast cancer, and four patients (1.4%) had colon cancer. Age and lower uterine segment involvement were not statistically different between the hereditary and nonhereditary groups. The majority of the women in the hereditary group presented with Stage I cancer; however, there were no significant differences in Stage I cancer between the hereditary group and the sporadic endometrial cancer group (85% and 77%, respectively, p = 0.561). The median follow-up period was 60 months. A 5-year overall survival rate was not different between the two groups (95% and 95%, respectively, p = 0.659). Among a subgroup of patients with Stage I endometrial cancer, the 5-year overall survival rate was lower in the endometrial cancer with a hereditary predisposition group compared with the sporadic endometrial cancer group (94% and 98%, respectively, p = 0.027).

CONCLUSION

Seven percent of the women with endometrial cancer in our study had other malignancies such as ovarian, colon, or breast cancer synchronously. Among a subgroup of patients with Stage I cancer in the endometrial cancer with a hereditary predisposition group, the 5-year overall survival rate was significantly lower (94%). This finding should be confirmed in a larger population.