Background:
Metaplastic breast cancer (MC) is a rare disease, thus it is difficult to
study its clinical outcomes.
Objective:
To investigate whether any clinicopathological or imaging features were associated
with clinical outcome in MC.
Methods:
We retrospectively evaluated the clinicopathological and imaging findings, and the clinical
outcomes of seventy-two pathologically confirmed MCs. We then compared these parameters
between triple-negative (TNMC) and non-TNMCs (NTNMC).
Results:
Oval or round shape, and not-circumscribed margin were the most common findings on
mammography, ultrasound (US), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It was mostly a mass
without calcification on mammography, and revealed complex or hypoechoic echotexture, and posterior
acoustic enhancement on US, and rim enhancement, wash-out kinetics, peritumoral edema,
and intratumoral necrosis on MRI. Of all 72, 64 were TNMCs, and eight were NTNMCs. Clinicopathological
and imaging findings were similar between the two groups, except that MRI showed
peritumoral edema more frequently in TNMCs than NTNMCs (p=0.045). There were 21 recurrences
and 13 deaths. Multivariable analysis showed that larger tumor size and co-existing DCIS
were significantly predictive of Disease free survival (DFS), and larger tumor size and neoadjuvant
chemotherapy were significantly predictive of overall survival (OS).
Conclusion:
MC showed characteristic imaging findings, and some variables associated with survival
outcome may help to predict prognosis.
Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts derived exosomes modulate breast cancer cell stemness through exonic circHIF1A by miR-580-5p in hypoxic stress