Treatment of Occult Breast Carcinoma Presenting Axillary Metastases

Occult breast carcinoma presenting axillary metastases is uncommon. However, the management of occult breast carcinoma is persistent controversy because there is still a small number of patients that cannot be identified by any modern imaging. Among 51 cases, 38 cases received mastectomy whereas 13 cases had no local treatment of the breast. The primary tumors were detected in 28 of 38 cases having mastectomy by pathology. About 70% of occult breast carcinoma cases were found thanks to the examination of continuous cutting slides with 5 mm intervals. The minimal size of tumor detected in this study was 0.1 x0.1x 0.2 cm. Seventy-seven percent of patients who had no local treatment of the breast had a tumor recurrence, compared with 26% who had a mastectomy. It was found that patients having mastectomy had a better disease-free survival and overall survival compared with those having no local treatment of the breast. Once the diagnosis of occult breast carcinoma is clarified, an axillary dissection and the local treatment of breast should be carried out

Bibliographic Reference:

Wang X et al.: "Clinical Benefits of Mastectomy on Treatment of Occult Breast Carcinoma Presenting Axillary Metastases", Breast J 2010 Jan:16(1):32-37

Xin Wang

First Department of Breast Tumor, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital and Institute; Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education; Tianjin, China