Systemic high-dose intravenous methotrexate in patients with central nervous system metastatic breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Infusion of high-dose intravenous methotrexate (MTX) has been demonstrating to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. The aim of this present study was to assess the efficacy and safety of high dose MTX in patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases of breast cancer. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with CNS metastases treated by MTX (3 g/m2) between April 2004 and October 2009 were enrolled. Clinical response rate, time to progression (TTP), overall survival (OS), and safety were assessed. RESULTS: In terms of brain metastases, 2 patients (9%) achieved a partial response, 10 patients (45%) had disease stabilization, and 10 patients (45%) had disease progression. In others metastatic sites, 7 patients (39%) achieved a disease stabilization, and 11 patients (61%) had disease progression. TTP and OS were 2.1 (95%CI 1.4-2.9) and 6.3 (95%CI 1.8-10) months, respectively. CONCLUSION: High-dose MTX demonstrated a moderate activity at 3 g/m2. Nonetheless, the favorable toxicity profile should suggest the possibility to increase the dosage and further study are planned.

Humeral metastasis as the only recurrence of a 5-year resected gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors represent the most frequently encountered primary mesenchymal tumors. Whereas the liver and the peritoneum are known to be the preferential metastasis sites, no therapeutic standard has yet been established for the management of bone metastases because of their very low incidence. We report a unique example of a single humerus metastasis of a jejunal gastrointestinal stromal tumor. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 72-year-old European woman whose jejunal gastrointestinal stromal tumor was resected in 2013 and treated during the following 3 years with imatinib (400 mg daily). In 2018, she developed a single humeral bone lesion that was identified as a gastrointestinal stromal tumor metastasis. After 7 months of imatinib intake, reconstructive surgery was performed. Pathologists confirmed the satisfactory histological regression and assessed the complete tumor resection. The patient is still on imatinib maintenance therapy, with no recurrence reported so far. She fully recovered the upper limb function after following an appropriate rehabilitation program. DISCUSSION: Current literature and published case reports indicate that bones are one of the rarest locations of gastrointestinal stromal tumor metastasis (about 1%), with occurrence mainly in the spine. Patients initially diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the small intestine and stomach are more likely to suffer from bone metastasis, compared with other gastrointestinal stromal tumor locations. The median overall survival rate is higher for patients with isolated bone metastasis compared with those having liver metastasis. Metastasis occurs on average 4 years after the primary, but it may take up to 20 years, emphasizing the need for long-term clinical and radiological monitoring. Although specific guidelines for such cases have not yet been established, we suggest that a multimodal concerted approach involving surgery or radiotherapy associated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor intake should be considered. CONCLUSION: Bones are one of the rarest locations of gastrointestinal stromal tumor metastasis. A multidisciplinary collaboration was set up to allow conservative surgery of our patient after several months of imatinib treatment. A year and a half later, the patient is still in complete remission. This specific case supports the concept of an intermediate stage between local and oligometastatic disease that should be managed with a curative aim, as much as possible.

[Scintigraphy using Technetium 99 m pyrophosphate in detection of bone metastasis of breast cancers. Analysis of 310 examinations]. / La scintigraphie au pyrophosphate de technetium 99m dans la détection des métastases osseuses des cancers du sein. Analyse de 310 examens

Three hundred and ten bone scintigraphies were carried out in patients with a carcinoma of the breast. The results of these studies were compared not only with radiological findings but also the clinical and paraclinical course of the patients, the period of observation being between 8 and 44 months. Amongst the scintigrams in which no abnormality was detected, approximately 3.3% were obtained in patients with osteolytic metastases, the majority of these patients also having a rapidly growing primary tumourmamongst the patients with zones of hyperfixation and, at the same time, non-fixing metastases, 14/22 diedvery rapidly with diffuse bone metastases, this confirming the notion of poor prognosis in this "false negative" group. 11.3% of the abnormal results involved patients who showed no bone lesions more than 6 months after radio-isotopic examination "false positives". Of these, 12/18 were single lessions (41%). 14% of examinations carried out on a routine basis demonstrated metastases for which clinical and/or radiological confirmation was obtained only 2 to 9 months later.