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. 2024 May 29;14(11):1133.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14111133.

Neuroendocrine Breast Carcinoma: Interesting Images of an Underdiagnosed Entity

Christoforos Kosmidis  1 , Kassiani Boulogeorgou  2 , Panagiota Roulia  1 , Marios Dagher  1 , Georgios Anthimidis  3 , Georgios Petrakis  2 , Charilaos Koulouris  1 , Stylianos Mantalovas  1 , Styliani Laskou  1 , Vasiliki Magra  1 , Vasileios Alexandros Karakousis  1 , Christina Sevva  1 , Eleni Paschou  1 , Vasileios Stergios  1 , Stylianos Kosmidis  4 , Chrysi Maria Mystakidou  5 , Vasiliki Theodorou  5 , Nikolaos Iason Katsios  6 , Triantafyllia Koletsa  2 , Konstantinos Sapalidis  1 , Isaak Kesisoglou  1
Affiliations

Neuroendocrine Breast Carcinoma: Interesting Images of an Underdiagnosed Entity

Christoforos Kosmidis et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer of the female gender. A rare subtype of breast cancer is the invasive breast carcinoma (IBC) with neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation. Its incident is believed to be 0.1% to 5% of all breast cancers. We report a rare case of a 66-year old woman who presented with an isolated nodule of the left breast. The patient underwent modified radical mastectomy. Pathology revealed invasive breast carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation. Invasive breast carcinoma is an extremely rare group of neoplasms, the exact frequency of which cannot be determined with current data. Therefore, it is necessary for future studies to focus on the pathophysiology of this subtype of breast cancer and on the potential therapeutic approaches.

Keywords: breast; cancer; chromogranin; neuroendocrine; synaptophysin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mammography imaging of the left breast.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Mass of the left breast sent for intraoperative fresh frozen section. (b) Left breast and lymph nodes of the left axilla.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Breast carcinoma presenting neuroendocrine morphology. (b) Breast carcinoma presenting neuroendocrine morphology. (c) Immunohistochemical expression of synaptophysin. (d) Immunohistochemical expression of chromogranin. (e) Immunohistochemical expression of estrogen receptors. (f) Immunohistochemical expression of a high Ki67 proliferative index.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Breast carcinoma presenting neuroendocrine morphology. (b) Breast carcinoma presenting neuroendocrine morphology. (c) Immunohistochemical expression of synaptophysin. (d) Immunohistochemical expression of chromogranin. (e) Immunohistochemical expression of estrogen receptors. (f) Immunohistochemical expression of a high Ki67 proliferative index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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