Survival in pregnancy-associated breast cancer patients compared to non-pregnant controls.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is a rare entity whose prognosis has previously been studied and is subject to controversy. METHODS: Survival of patients with PABC diagnosed between 2009 and 2021 with breast cancer during pregnancy or until 1 year after childbirth was compared with non-pregnant patients with breast cancer from the same period at La Paz University Hospital. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to compare disease-free (DFS) and overall (OS) survival between the groups, adjusting for grade and pathologic stage. RESULTS: Among the 89 included patients with breast cancer, 34 were diagnosed during pregnancy, and 55 were not pregnant. The pregnant patients were more likely to have grade 3 tumors (61.3% vs 37%, p = 0.023) and an advanced stage (pathologic stage III-IV: 44.1% vs 17.6%, p = 0.008). Median follow-up was 47 months for the pregnant group and 46 months for the control group. After adjustments for tumor grade and pathologic stage, OS was comparable between the groups (HR 2.03; 95% CI 0.61 to 6.79; P = 0.25). CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of women diagnosed with PABC is comparable to young non-pregnant controls. However, it should be taken into account that PABC has a more aggressive phenotype.

Incidence of nodal metastasis and isolated aortic metastases in patients with surgically staged endometrioid endometrial cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the incidence of lymph node metastasis in patients with surgically staged endometrioid-type endometrial cancer in Donostia University Hospital and evaluate the presence of isolated aortic metastasis. METHODS: Using a prospectively maintained database, we recorded all cases of endometrioid endometrial cancer that underwent lymph node dissection and determined the rate and location (pelvic or para-aortic) of lymph node metastasis. RESULTS: A total of 212 patients with endometrioid type endometrial cancer were surgically treated at our institution from May 2008 to June 2013. Ninety underwent pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy. Thirteen had positive nodes upon pathological examination. Six (6.6%) of 90 patients had positive para-aortic nodes with negative pelvic nodes. CONCLUSIONS: In our series, the incidence of isolated aortic nodal metastasis is high compared with other published reports. Performing aortic lymphadenectomy only in case of positive pelvic nodes would have underdiagnosed 6 (46%) of 13 stage IIIC cancers.