Breast cancer with endocrine differentiation: report of two cases showing different histologic patterns

Evolution of an invasive ductal carcinoma to a small cell carcinoma of the breast: A case report

RATIONALE

Small cell carcinoma (SCC) is a rare subtype of breast cancer and presents a complex diagnostic and treatment challenge, due to paucity of data. To the best of our knowledge, most cases of breast SCC reported in the literature describe a de novo breast primary. Our case is unique as it describes the evolution of an invasive ductal carcinoma after treatment into a SCC of the breast.

PATIENT CONCERNS AND DIAGNOSIS

We report a case of a 53-year-old female, lifelong non-smoker, who initially presented with breast mass noted on self examination. Breast and axillary lymph node biopsy demonstrated a hormone receptor positive invasive ductal carcinoma with a metastatic T3 lesion.

INTERVENTION

She was treated with first-line palbociclib/letrozole with initial clinical response, and at progression was switched to capecitabine with no response. Repeat biopsy of the axillary lesion showed evolution of the tumor into a triple negative breast cancer. She was then treated with third-line paclitaxel and radiation therapy with good initial response. She eventually had further disease progression and presented with a new mediastinal lymphadenopathy causing SVC syndrome. Biopsy of this showed a small cell variant of breast neuroendocrine carcinoma. Due to the evolution of histology in this case, a retrospective review of her initial breast specimen as well as the second biopsy from the axilla was conducted which confirmed that the mediastinal lymphadenopathy was metastatic from the original breast tumor.

OUTCOMES AND LESSONS

We speculate that the initial treatment allowed a minority of treatment-resistant neuroendocrine cells to grow and become the dominant face of the tumor. Our patient had an excellent response to carboplatin/etoposide and consolidative locoregional radiotherapy but presented with an early intracranial recurrence. This is a similar pattern of metastases as seen in lung SCC and highlights a potential role for prophylactic cranial irradiation in breast SCC. Further studies are needed to better understand the biology and treatment of breast SCC which continues to present a challenge for clinicians.

Metastatic Neuroendocrine Carcinoma Presenting with Bilateral Axillary Lymphadenopathy

Metastatic, high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas are frequently associated with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), classically spreading to the liver, bone, lung, and brain. Though SCLCs most commonly present as large masses interfering with the airway, this malignancy may appear initially as a benign mass at a distant site. This case profiles a 64-year-old woman who presented with bilateral breast masses that were identified as metastases of poorly differentiated, high-grade neuroendocrine SCLC through mammogram, ultrasound, CT, and core biopsy. Accurately identifying etiology of a breast malignancy is critical to therapeutic planning, as disparate treatment guidelines and disease courses exist for primary breast cancer and SCLC.

Primary Neuroendocrine Breast Carcinoma in a 13-Year-Old Girl: Ultrasonography and Pathology Findings

Neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) of the breast is a rare disease and has been scarcely reported by African authors. The authors report a case of breast NEC in a 13-year-old African girl initially diagnosed as an atypical adenofibroma by ultrasonography. Ultrasound-guided biopsy and conventional histological examination indicated two potential diagnoses: primary malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and undifferentiated carcinoma. According to immunohistochemistry performed on paraffin blocks in France, infiltrating ductal carcinoma with a strong neuroendocrine component was confirmed by CD56, CD57, and chromogranin A markers.

Primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast: report of 2 cases and literature review

Neuroendocrine tumors of the breast are very rare accounting for less than 0.1% of all breast cancers and less than 1% of all neuroendocrine tumors. Focal neuroendocrine differentiation can be found in different histologic types of breast carcinoma including in situ and invasive ductal or invasive lobular. However, primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast requires the expression of neuroendocrine markers in more than 50% of the cell population, the presence of ductal carcinoma in situ, and the absence of clinical evidence of concurrent primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of any other organ. Reports discussing the imaging characteristics of this rare carcinoma in different breast imaging modalities are scarce. We present 2 cases of primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast for which mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging findings and pathology findings are described. A review of the medical literature on this particular topic was performed, and the results are presented.

Does hormonal therapy have a therapeutic role in metastatic primary small cell neuroendocrine breast carcinoma? Case report and literature review

Primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of breast (NECB) is a very rare tumor; the World Health Organization(WHO) subcategorized these tumors into 3 major histologic subtypes: solid, small cell carcinoma (SMCC), and large cell NE carcinoma. The SMCC subtype is the least common and most aggressive and has been reported to be as aggressive as its pulmonary counterpart. SMCC is usually confirmed based on clinical, pathologic,and imaging studies. Local disease is usually managed in a fashion similar to that of the usual ductal breast cancer; in the metastatic SMCC setting, regimens that are implemented in small cell lung cancer are usually attempted, according to case reports and published small case series. Hormone receptors can be expressed in more than 90% of the solid tumor subtype; however its expression is manifested in about 50% of cases of SMCC. Although hormonal therapy can be used successfully to treat the usual metastatic ductal breast cancer,its utility in metastatic SMCC has not been reported. We report an impressive response to hormonal therapy in a patient with late relapse of breast carcinoma with a metastatic SMCC subtype that expressed hormone receptors. The response to hormonal therapy was sustained for about 12 months. The response to hormonal therapy is definitely an interesting finding that, to our knowledge, has not been described before in the setting of metastatic SMCC. We suggest considering adding hormonal therapy to the treatment pipeline for primary SMCC of the breast that express hormone receptors.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of solid neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast: a case report

We report a case of neuroendcrine (NE) carcinoma in the right breast of a 67-year-old female, ultrasonography revealed a lesion composed of irregular hypoechoic masses and mammography showed asymmetric breast tissue. Histopathologic examination of the surgical sample showed a solid to nested proliferation of plasmacytoid cells that showed immunocytochemical positivity for chromogranin A, synaptophysin, CD56, and estrogen receptor. Our case was diagnosed as solid NE carcinoma. Though the findings of fine needle aspiration cytology reflected the histological features, we were not able to cytopathologic grounds only to predict the NE nature of this tumor. We performed immunocytochemistry using Chromogranin A, Synaptophysin, and CD56 on our cytologic smear retrospectively with positive results for all of the markers. When the cytopathologic examination of a given breast neoplasm is suggestive of NE differentiation, immunocytochemical staining for NE markers is generally useful for a correct preoperative diagnosis. An acurate preoperative diagnosis of NE carcinoma on FNAC can be achieved based on its distinctive cytomorphologic and immunocytochemical features.

Primary small-cell carcinoma of the breast: a case report

We report a case of small-cell carcinoma of the breast. The patient was a 54-year-old Japanese woman with a left breast mass. Mammography revealed a 1.2-cm microlobulated mass with partially ill-defined borders. Ultrasonography disclosed a hypoechoic mass measuring 1.8 × 1.2 × 1.2 cm with heterogeneous internal echoes and partially ill-defined borders. The shape of the mass was round and taller than it was wide in the orthogonal section to the longest axis of the mass. These imaging findings suggested a malignant tumor. Fine-needle aspiration cytology of the tumor also suggested a ductal carcinoma. Breast-conserving surgery was performed with axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy. A diagnosis of small-cell carcinoma of the breast was made based on the histologic and immunohistochemical findings. This rare breast tumor has been reported to be aggressive and associated with a poor prognosis; however, our patient is currently well and has had no clinical recurrence of the disease after 5 years of follow-up without radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Therefore, the prognosis may be better if the tumor is detected early and there is an absence of lymph node metastasis.

Synchronous metastases to the liver and pancreas from a primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration

Extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma is uncommon. Cases of primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast have been reported, though rare. We report the case of a 53-year-old woman who underwent a mastectomy for breast carcinoma and presented three years later with synchronous masses in the head of the pancreas and liver. Fine-needle aspiration of both organs revealed a neuroendocrine carcinoma. The original breast tumor was reviewed and found to express neuroendocrine markers. A diagnosis of a primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast was rendered.

Breast metastasis from small cell lung carcinoma

Breast metastases from extramammary neoplasms are very rare. We presented a 66 year-old female with metastasis of small cell lung carcinoma to the breast. She presented with consolidation over the left upper lobe of her lung undetermined after endobronchial or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) biopsy, and this was treated effectively after antibiotic therapy at initial stage. The left breast lumps were noted 4 months later, and she underwent a modified radical mastectomy under the impression of primary breast carcinoma. However, the subsequent chest imaging revealed re-growing mass over the left mediastinum and hilum, and cells with the same morphological and staining features were found from specimens of transbronchial brushing and biopsy. An accurate diagnosis to distinguish a primary breast carcinoma from metastatic one is very important because the therapeutic planning and the outcome between them are different.

A case of solid neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast in a 40-year-old woman

We report a case of neuroendocrine carcinoma in a 40-year-old woman who presented with two lumps in her left breast. Mammography failed to reveal any lesions because she had so-called dense breasts, but ultrasonography showed 4 irregular hypoechoic masses. Magnetic resonance imaging also showed 4 homogeneous lobulated tumors with early contrast enhancement, suggesting malignancy. Core needle biopsy and subsequent immunohistochemical examination of the specimens was performed. Neuroendocrine carcinoma was diagnosed. The tumor cells were diffusely positive for chromogranin A and synaptophysin, and some were positive for CD56. We performed total mastectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy, which showed no metastasis. Recurrence has not been detected at 36 months after surgery.