Neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) of the breast is a rare type of carcinoma that has not been well studied or characterized. Of the limited number of studies reported in the literature, most are case reports.
A few small retrospective series studies have been reported.
Methods:
We reviewed data on 142 cases of mammary NEC recorded in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database during 2003-2009 and evaluated disease incidence and patient age, sex, and race/ethnicity; clinicopathologic characteristics; and survival in comparison to invasive mammary carcinoma, not otherwise specified. We also performed univariate and multivariate analyses to identify prognostic factors in this disease.
Results:
Review of the 142 SEER cases revealed that NEC is an aggressive variant of invasive mammary carcinoma.
It generally occurred in older women (60 years); present with larger tumor size (2 cm), higher histologic grade, and higher clinical stage; and result in shorter overall survival and disease-specific survival than invasive mammary carcinoma, not otherwise specified (IMC-NOS). Overall survival and disease-specific survival were shorter in NEC at each stage than in IMC-NOS of the same stage.
Furthermore, when all NEC and IMC-NOS cases were pooled together, neuroendocrine differentiation itself was an adverse prognostic factor independent of other known prognostic factors, including age, tumor size, nodal status, histologic grade, estrogen/progesterone receptor status, and therapy.
Conclusions:
NEC is a rare but aggressive type of mammary carcinoma. Novel therapeutic approaches should be explored for this uniquely clinical entity.
Author: Jun WangBing WeiConstance T AlbarracinJianhua HuSusan C AbrahamYun Wu
Credits/Source: BMC Cancer 2014, 14:147
Published on: 2014-03-04
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