Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Mar;25(3):361-8.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2010.25.3.361. Epub 2010 Feb 19.

Clinicopathological characteristics of mucinous carcinoma of the breast in Korea: comparison with invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified

Seho Park  1 , Jaseung Koo, Joo-Hee Kim, Woo Ick Yang, Byeong-Woo Park, Kyong Sik Lee
Affiliations

Clinicopathological characteristics of mucinous carcinoma of the breast in Korea: comparison with invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified

Seho Park et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

Clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of mucinous carcinoma (MC) were compared with invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified (IDC-NOS). Clinicopathological characteristics and survivals of 104 MC patients were retrospectively reviewed and compared with those of 3,936 IDC-NOS. The median age at diagnosis was 45 yr in MC and 47 yr in IDC-NOS, respectively. The sensitivity of mammography and sonography for pure MC were 76.5% and 94.7%, respectively. MC showed favorable characteristics including less involvement of lymph node, lower stage, more expression of estrogen receptors, less HER-2 overexpression and differentiated grade, and better 10-yr disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) (86.1% and 86.3%, respectively) than IDC-NOS (74.7% and 74.9%, respectively). Ten-year DFS of pure and mixed type was 90.2% and 68.8%, respectively. Nodal status and stage were statistically significant factors for survival. MC in Koreans showed similar features to Western populations except for a younger age of onset than in IDC-NOS. Since only pure MC showed better prognosis than IDC-NOS, it is important to differentiate mixed MC from pure MC. Middle-aged Korean women presenting breast symptoms should be examined carefully and evaluated with an appropriate diagnostic work-up because some patients present radiologically benign-like lesions.

Keywords: Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous; Breast; Korea; Prognosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Survival curves in all patients. (A) Disease-free survival curve according to histologic type. (B) Overall survival curves according to histologic type. IDC-NOS, Invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Survival curves of mucinous carcinoma patients available for histologic subtype. (A) Disease-free survival curve compared with IDC-NOS. (B) Overall survival curve compared with IDC-NOS. MC, Mucinous carcinoma; IDC-NOS, Invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Stage-matched overall survival curves in all patients. (A) Stage I, (B) Stage II, (C) Stage III. IDC-NOS, Invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Age-matched overall survival curves in all patients. (A) Age of 50 yr or younger, (B) Age over 50 yr. IDC-NOS, Invasive ductal carcinoma-not otherwise specified.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Louwman MW, Vriezen M, van Beek MW, Nolthenius-Puylaert MC, van der Sangen MJ, Roumen RM, Kiemeney LA, Coebergh JW. Uncommon breast tumors in perspective: incidence, treatment and survival in the Netherlands. Int J Cancer. 2007;121:127–135. - PubMed
    1. Andre S, Cunha F, Bernardo M, Meneses e Sousa J, Cortez F, Soares J. Mucinous carcinoma of the breast: a pathologic study of 82 cases. J Surg Oncol. 1995;58:162–167. - PubMed
    1. Li CI, Uribe DJ, Daling JR. Clinical characteristics of different histologic types of breast cancer. Br J Cancer. 2005;93:1046–1052. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diab SG, Clark GM, Osborne CK, Libby A, Allred DC, Elledge RM. Tumor characteristics and clinical outcome of tubular and mucinous breast carcinomas. J Clin Oncol. 1999;17:1442–1448. - PubMed
    1. Tan PH, Tse GM, Bay BH. Mucinous breast lesions: diagnostic challenges. J Clin Pathol. 2008;61:11–19. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms