Adjuvant Radiotherapy is Associated with an Increase of Survival of Old (Aged Over 80 Years) and Very Old (Aged Over 90 Years) Women with Breast Cancer Receiving Breast-Conserving Surgery

BACKGROUND: To date,no data on the effect of adjuvant whole-breast radiotherapy (WBRT) on oncologic outcomes, such as all-cause death, locoregional recurrence (LRR), and distant metastasis (DM), are available forold (aged ≥80 years) and very old (≥90 years) women with breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) receiving breast-conserving conservative surgery (BCS).PATIENTS AND METHODS: We enrolled old (≥80 yearsold) and very old (≥90 yearsold) women with breast IDC who had received BCS followed by adjuvant WBRT or no adjuvant WBRT. We groupedthem based on adjuvant WBRT status and compared their overall survival (OS), LRR, and DM outcomes. To reduce the effects of potential confounders when comparing all-cause mortality between the groups, propensity score matching was performed.RESULTS:Overall, 752 older women with IDC received BCS followed by adjuvant WBRT, and 752 with IDC received BCS with no adjuvant WBRT.In multivariable Cox regression analysis, the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of all-cause death for adjuvant WBRT compared with no adjuvant WBRT in older women with IDC receiving BCS was 0.56 (0.44-0.70). The aHRs (95% CIs) of LRR and DM foradjuvant WBRT were 0.29 (0.19-0.45) and 0.45 (0.32-0.62), respectively, compared with no adjuvant WBRT.CONCLUSION: Adjuvant WBRT was associated with decreases in all-cause death, LRR, and DM in old (aged ≥80 years) and very old (aged ≥90 years) women with IDC compared with no adjuvant WBRT.Condensed Abstract: This study is the first to examine the effect of adjuvant whole-breast radiotherapy (WBRT) on oncologic outcomes such as all-cause death, locoregional recurrence (LRR), and distant metastasis (DM) in old (aged ≥80 years) and very old (aged ≥90 years) women with breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) receiving breast-conserving surgery. After propensity score matching, adjuvant WBRT was associated with decreases in all-cause death, LRR, and DM in old and very old women with IDC compared with no use of adjuvant WBRT.

Hematotoxicity and functional impacts related to chemotherapy with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide for invasive ductal breast carcinoma: a study in clinical records

Objective: To evaluate the occurrence of hematological and functional toxicities during chemotherapy with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide in women with breast invasive ductal carcinoma. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study, involving the data collection in clinical records of 119 women undergoing chemotherapy for breast invasive ductal carcinoma in an oncology outpatient clinic, carried out between February 2014 and February 2015. Results: The investigated toxicities and their respectively occurrences in patients exposed to doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide were hemoglobinemia (26,5%), leukopenia (21,6%), neutropenia (10,8%), thrombocytopenia (none) and reduced hematocrit (28,4%), in addition to fatigue (93,1%), fever (20,6%), gain (35,3%) and weight loss (22,5%). In these variables, there were no significant differences between the exposed and not exposed patients. The association with taxanes showed a significant reduction in hematocrit values (p=0.019) and the toxicities distributed by age group were not significant within the exposed group. Conclusions: Exposure to doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide was not associated with an increase in the occurrence of hematotoxicities and functional impacts in women with breast ductal invasive carcinoma, except when associated with taxane agents.

The prognostic value and immune microenvironment association of androgen receptor in HER2 positive early breast invasive ductal carcinoma

BackgroundThe prognosis of HER2+ early breast cancer is heterogeneous. AR, as an indicator of prognosis and treatment, is uncertain in HER2+ subtypes. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of AR and the relationship between AR expression and immune microenvironment in HER2+ early breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).MethodsHER2+ early breast IDC patients diagnosed by pathology who underwent surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from 2016 to 2017 were the main population. All patients included performed AR test and their clinicopathological data were collected. The disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model. AR+ and AR- breast IDCs were matched 1:1 according to age, T stage and N stage for immune infiltration analysis.ResultsA total of 554 patients with HER2+ early breast cancer were included in this retrospective study, regardless of HR status. Taking 10% as the cutoff values of AR, 81.6% of patients were AR positive and 18.4% were AR negative. ER+ (P<0.001) and PR+ (P<0.001) had significant relations with the positive expression of AR. Kaplan-Meier survival curves analysis suggested that AR had close links with OS (P=0.001), not DFS (P=0.051). Eliminating the potential impact caused by HR, AR also predicted a longer OS (P=0.014) and AR was an independent impact factor for OS by multivariate analysis (P=0.036) in HER2+HR- early breast IDC patients. In AR+ and AR- matched HER2+HR- patients, TILs (P=0.043) and PD-L1 (P=0.027) is significantly low in AR+ patients. The strongest negative correlation was observed between AR and PD-L1 (Pearson’s r =-0.299, P=0.001). AR+ seemed to trend a favorable clinical survival in HER2+HR- IDCs with low TILs or positive PD-L1.ConclusionsAR+ were markedly related to the better OS in HER2+HR- early breast cancer, while the negative correlation was observed between AR and PD-L1/TILs. We provided new insights for the prognostic value and immune microenvironment association of AR to optimize treatment strategies in HER2+ early breast IDCs.

Clinical Value of Three Combined Ultrasonography Modalities in Predicting the Risk of Metastasis to Axillary Lymph Nodes in Breast Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to assess the clinical value of conventional ultrasound (C-US), ultrasound elastography (UE), percutaneous contrast-enhanced ultrasound (P-CUES), and the combination of these three ultrasonography modalities for evaluating the risk of axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis in breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC).MethodsThis retrospective analysis included 120 patients with pathologically confirmed IDC who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Based on the gold standard of postoperative pathology, ALN pathology results were evaluated and compared with findings obtained using C-US, UE, P-CUES, and the three modalities combined.Results(1) There was a statistically significant difference between the histological grade of the tumor and the pathological condition of ALNs. (2) The difference between C-US parameters and UE score were statistically significant. The accuracy of P-CEUS localization of SLNs was 100% (96/96) when compared with localization guided by methylene blue. The difference in the distribution of the four SLN enhancement patterns was statistically significant. (3) The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of C-US and UE were 75%, 71%, 58%, and 89%, and 71%, 72%, 50%, and 86%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of P-CUES were 91%, 82%, 78%, 92%, respectively. When all three modalities were combined, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 94%, 89%, 86%, and 95%, respectively. In the detection of ALN metastasis, there was a good correlation between histopathological results and evaluations based on the three combined ultrasonography modalities (kappa: 0.82, p&lt;0.001).ConclusionsWhen compared to C-US, UE, or P-CEUS alone, the combination of the three ultrasonography modalities was found to be superior in distinguishing metastatic and non-metastatic ALNs. This combined strategy may aid physicians in determining the most appropriate approach to ALN surgery as well as the prognosis of breast IDC.

Male Triple Negative Axillary Accessory Breast Cancer, a Case Report

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide. In men, cases of breast cancer are few and accounts for less than 1% of all cases of breast cancer. Majority of male breast cancer is hormone receptor-positive. The incidence of male axillary accessory breast cancer derived from axillary accessory breast is very low. Here we report a case of male triple negative axillary accessory breast cancer.Case presentation: We present a case of a male triple negative axillary accessory breast cancer in a 67-year-old man that progressively increased in size through a period of 1 year. We performed right accessory breast resection and right axillary lymph nodes dissection. Postoperative pathological analysis revealed right accessory breast invasive ductal carcinoma with apocrine metaplasia. The tumor size was 3.5 * 3.3cm. In addition, 5 metastatic lymph nodes were seen in 27 axillary lymph nodes. Immunohistochemistry showed ER (-), PR (-), Ki-67 30%, HER2 (2 +), GATA-3 (+), GCDFP-15(+), and AR (+). Fish test obtained a negative result. The patient was treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy.Conclusion: Male triple negative axillary accessory breast cancer is rare. Treatment of male triple negative axillary accessory breast cancer is similar to that of women patients. Most patients undergo surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy.

Breast invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosis with a three-miRNA panel in serum

Aim: Breast cancer, especially invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), is the cause of a great clinical burden. miRNA could be considered as a noninvasive biomarkers for IDC diagnosis. Materials & methods: Two hundred and sixty participants (135 IDC patients and 125 healthy controls) were enrolled in a three-cohort study. The expression of 28 miRNAs in serum were detected with quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Bioinformatic analysis was used for predicting the target genes of three selected miRNAs. Results: The expression level of seven miRNAs (miR-9-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-1-3p, miR-146a-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-125b-5p) was discrepant at the validation cohort. Through statistical test, a three-miRNA panel (miR-9-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-146a-5p) was significant for IDC diagnosis (AUC = 0.880, sensitivity = 86.25%, specificity = 81.25%). Conclusion: The three-miRNA panel in serum could be used as a noninvasive biomarker in the diagnosis of IDC.

Diagnosis and treatment of chylous leakage after modified radical mastectomy for breast cancer: a case report

The post-operative complication of chylous leakage after breast cancer is relatively rare, and few clinical studies have been published. We report a 64-year-old woman with chylous leakage following modified radical mastectomy. We describe the patient’s diagnostic and treatment process in detail. The patient was diagnosed with grade II (left) breast invasive ductal carcinoma. Post-operatively, the patient's chest wall and axilla were pressurized, and negative pressure drainage was initiated. On the fifth post-operative day, the drainage from the chest wall and axilla increased significantly, and the patient developed chylous leakage on the eighth postoperative day. We injected meglumine diatrizoate (100 mL) and elemene (10 mL) into the patient's axilla, and the chylous leakage gradually resolved 18 days post-operatively. In this report, we focus on managing a case of chylous leakage after modified radical mastectomy for breast cancer. Meglumine diatrizoate combined with elemene is a possible treatment for the management of this rare complication.