Breast and splenic metastases of squamous cell carcinoma from the uterine cervix: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Metastases to the breast from extramammary malignancies are infrequent, the most common primary sites are malignant melanoma, leukemia, lymphoma, and cancer of the lung, stomach, prostate and ovary. The cervical origin is exceptional. Splenic metastasis from squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix is also rare. To the best of our knowledge, only three cases of isolated splenic metastasis have been reported in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe the case of a 55-year-old North African woman who presented with a nodule in her left breast eight months after treatment for stage IIB squamous cell uterine cervical carcinoma. The excisional biopsy with histological study demonstrated a poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. A computed tomography scan revealed a splenic secondary location. CONCLUSIONS: We report here a case of two unusual metastatic sites of uterine cervical carcinoma, the breast and spleen. It is the first case of this association without widespread disease.

Frequency and type of epidermal growth factor receptor mutations in moroccan patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in non-small-cell lung cancer predict response to tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The frequency of EGFR mutations is ethnicity-dependent, with a higher proportion in Asian populations than in whites. The prevalence of these mutations among North African patients is unknown. The objective of this study was to report the frequency and spectrum of EGFR mutations in a group of Moroccan patients with lung adenocarcinoma (AC). METHODS: Tumor specimens from 137 Moroccan patients with lung AC were selected to determine frequency and spectrum of EGFR mutations. Mutation detection techniques were polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of exons 18, 19, 20, and 21. RESULTS: The overall frequency of the EGFR mutation was 21%. Mutations were mainly detected in the exon 19 (69%), followed by exon 21 (21%) and exon 20 (7%), whereas mutations in the exon 18 were rare (3%). EGFR mutation rate was significantly higher in women and in never smokers. CONCLUSION: Some one fifth of lung AC tumors in Moroccan patients harbor EGFR mutations. This mutation frequency is higher than that found in whites but lower than in Asian population. Further studies, in larger numbers of patients, are needed to confirm these findings.