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
Case Reports
. 2021 Apr 14;2021(4):rjab018.
doi: 10.1093/jscr/rjab018. eCollection 2021 Apr.

A case of hereditary metachronous bilateral triple-negative breast cancer that was highly sensitive to carboplatin

Rongrong Wu  1 , Kayo Adachi  1 , Yoichi Koyama  1 , Kyoko Orimoto  1 , Miki Okazaki  1 , Mariko Asaoka  1 , Saeko Teraoka  1 , Ai Ueda  1 , Kana Miyahara  1 , Takahiko Kawate  1 , Hiroshi Kaise  1 , Kimito Yamada  1 , Eichi Sato  2 , Takashi Ishikawa  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

A case of hereditary metachronous bilateral triple-negative breast cancer that was highly sensitive to carboplatin

Rongrong Wu et al. J Surg Case Rep. .

Abstract

A 52-year-old woman with a strong family history of breast cancer was diagnosed as having triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in her right breast. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC; four cycles of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide/5-fluorouracil) was performed, followed by breast-conserving surgery and axillary lymph node dissection. Histopathological analysis of the surgical specimens demonstrated a few focal tumor cells remaining in the stroma, but not a pathological complete response (pCR). Weekly paclitaxel was subsequently added to the treatment regimen. A total of 17 months after the adjuvant treatments, TNBC recurred in her left breast with massive lymph node metastasis. Because of the early recurrence after standard treatment, NAC was administered together with carboplatin and paclitaxel. Histopathological analysis of the partially resected breast and axillary lymph nodes demonstrated a pCR. No recurrent disease was found 2 years after the second TNBC treatment. This case underlines the importance of platinum-based chemotherapy and prophylactic mastectomy for patients with BRCA dysfunction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The first mammogram. The mammogram displaying a highly dense micro-serrated mass in the right upper lateral region (arrowhead).
Figure 2
Figure 2
CT images of right breast tumor before and after treatment. (A) Chest CT displaying nodules in the right breast (top, arrowhead) and lymph node swelling in the right axilla (bottom, arrowhead); (B) after administration of NAC, the primary tumor (top, arrowhead) and axillary lymph nodes (bottom, arrowhead) displayed a clear reduction in size.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Histopathological features of right breast tumor. The biopsy specimen showed high-grade carcinoma cells arranged in solid sheet or thin trabecular structures directly producing matrix, suspected to be matrix-producing carcinoma (metaplastic carcinoma) (hematoxylin and eosin stain, ×400).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The second mammogram. The mammogram displaying a well-defined borderline high-density mass in the left upper lateral region (arrowhead).
Figure 5
Figure 5
CT images of left breast tumor before and after treatment. (A) Chest CT displaying a nodule in the left breast (top, arrowhead) and lymph node swelling in the left axilla (bottom, arrowhead); (B) Tumors in both the left breast (top, arrowhead, arrowhead) and the axillary lymph node (bottom, arrowhead, arrowhead) shrank after carboplatin and paclitaxel administration.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Histopathological features of left breast tumor. The biopsy specimen demonstrated invasive carcinoma with features of metaplastic carcinoma, i.e. without ductal structure, with tumor cell matrix-producing or some spindle cell characteristics (hematoxylin and eosin stain, ×400).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Liedtke C, Mazouni C, Hess KR, André F, Tordai A, Mejia JA, et al. Response to neoadjuvant therapy and long-term survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 2008;26:1275–81. - PubMed
    1. Lips EH, Mulder L, Oonk A, van der Kolk LE, Hogervorst FBL, Imholz ALT, et al. Triple-negative breast cancer: BRCAness and concordance of clinical features with BRCA1-mutation carriers. Br J Cancer 2013;108:2172–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mori H, Kubo M, Nishimura R, Osako T, Arima N, Okumura Y, et al. BRCAness as a biomarker for predicting prognosis and response to anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with triple-negative breast cancer. PLoS One 2016;11:e0167016. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Teraoka S, Sato E, Narui K, Yamada A, Fujita T, Yamada K, et al. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with anthracycline-based regimen for BRCAness tumors in triple-negative breast cancer. J Surg Res 2020;250:143–7. - PubMed
    1. von Minckwitz G, Schneeweiss A, Loibl S, Salat C, Denkert C, Rezai M, et al. Neoadjuvant carboplatin in patients with triple-negative and HER2-positive early breast cancer (GeparSixto; GBG 66): a randomised phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol 2014;15:747–56. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources