EDITOR
Neil Love, MD
| BREAST CANCER INVESTIGATOR Charles E Geyer Jr, MD Director of Medical Affairs National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Vice-Chair, Department of Human Oncology Allegheny General Hospital Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
COMMUNITY ONCOLOGIST Atif M Hussein, MD Medical Director Memorial Cancer Institute Hollywood, Florida |
Case 1
A 55-year-old woman with a 1-cm, ER-positive, HER2-positive
infiltrating lobular carcinoma who initially elected treatment
with alternative medicine. After six months, her tumor grew to
8 x 6 centimeters and she developed severe pain, extensive
bony metastases and liver lesions.
CASE 2
A 74-year-old woman who was diagnosed in 1998 with ER-positive,
node-positive breast cancer and treated with tamoxifen for five
years followed by letrozole, which was discontinued because of
arthralgias. Three years later, she presented with diffuse bony
metastases.
CASE 3
A 55-year-old woman who was treated with CMF in 1999 for
ER-negative, node-positive breast cancer and experienced a
local recurrence after four years, for which she underwent a
second lumpectomy. Subsequently she developed a 3-cm, triple-negative
contralateral breast tumor and received neoadjuvant
chemotherapy but was lost to follow-up until 2007, when she
presented with locally advanced breast cancer and a solitary
3- x 2-cm liver lesion, the biopsy of which was consistent with
her primary tumor.
CASE 4
A 54-year-old woman with ER-negative, HER2-positive, node-positive
breast cancer and bilateral pulmonary nodules consistent
with metastatic disease.
CASE 5
A 60-year-old retired nurse with a Grade III, ER-negative,
HER2-borderline (IHC 2+, FISH 2.06), node-positive inflammatory
breast tumor.
CASE 6
A 45-year-old woman who was treated for ER-negative,
inflammatory breast cancer 10 years ago and shortly thereafter
developed a postmastectomy, HER2-positive chest wall recurrence
and a solitary brain metastasis, for which she has received
successive anti-HER2 therapies.
