[Prolonged remission achieved by using bevacizumab plus paclitaxel therapy combined with sequential radiotherapy for a rapidly growing chest wall recurrence of triple negative breast cancer - a case report].

ABSTRACT

A 73-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with right triple negative breast cancer (cT1cN1M0, stage I ) and underwent right modified radical mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection, showed recurrent disease in the right parasternal lymph node 4 years after the operation. Computed tomography (CT) revealed rapid growth of the tumor along with pain, accompanied by the destruction of the sternal bone. Five cycles of bevacizumab plus paclitaxel (BEV+wPTX) treatment (10 mg/kg of bevacizumab on days 1 and 15 plus 90 mg/m² of paclitaxel on days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks)achieved remarkable tumor regression. Parasternal irradiation (30 Gy/15 Fr) followed by oral capecitabine treatment (600 mg b. i. d; 3 week administration followed by a week of rest) as maintenance therapy showed complete tumor regression and helped to achieve good quality of life (QOL) without any unfavorable symptoms at the 2-year follow-up, although the estimated progression free survival of this treatment is about 6 months. As BEV+wPTX had a high response rate for recurrent breast cancer, its combination with sequential radiotherapy could provide a favorable local control rate and good QOL for patients with rapidly growing, solitary, recurrent breast cancers.