Impact of Screening Programs on Stage Migration in Breast Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer (BC) is the leading malignancy globally with consequent morbidity, mortality and burden on health care resources when diagnosed at an advance stage. Early-stage diagnosis is crucial to the better outcome. Screening is pivotal to early detection at an early stage. It is understood to reduce mortality, improve outcome, and is cost effective. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to see the impact of screening program on Breast cancer stage in Oman. In this study we looked into the trends in stagespecific breast cancer incidence during two pre-specified time periods 2006-2010 and 2015-2017, before and after the introduction of a national screening programme in Oman. PATIENTS AND METHODS: It is a retrospective analysis, where breast cancer patient's data was retrieved from Oman national cancer Registry ministry of health Sultanate of Oman, for two pre-specified time periods 2006-2010 before the introduction of cancer screening programs and 2015-2017. The cases included were those who had confirmed histopathology diagnosis and where a composite stage, based on TNM stage, was available to be analysed and compared in these two pre-specified time periods to find out the difference between these two time periods. The statistical analysis was carried out and p values were determined. Ethical approval obtained from Royal Hospital medical ethics and scientific research committee. RESULTS: There was a 41% reduction in stage IV breast cancer from 23.01% to 13.58 %, and 86.15% increase in stage 0-1 from 6.86 % to 16.98%. (p Value<001). The stage 0 cases increased from 0% to 4.26 %. With regard to tumour size, T0-1 tumours increased from 14.16% to 26.03%, while T4 tumours decreased from 16.59% to 7.69%. There was increase in node negative breast cancer cases in Oman. The N0 increased from 28.43% to 37.64%. The diagnosis as Non-metastatic M0 disease increased from 39.77% to 60.23%, while diagnosis as metastatic M1 disease decreased from 55.32% to 44.68%. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of national screening programme in Oman resulted in a continued increase in localized cancers and a decline in advanced disease. Screening programmes should be evaluated continuously and systematically to ensure their targeted objectives. The causal link between stage distribution and mortality needs to be investigated further in the context of screening. Health planners, policymakers, and other stakeholders; including clinicians, educators, community members, and advocates, should be aware of the health system requirements, as well as overall costs of these approaches to breast cancer early detection, to make effective investments, plans, and policies. Key Words: Breast Cancer; Screening; Oman; Royal hospital; early detection; early stage; OCA.

Evaluation Of Intraoperative Touch Imprint Cytology Of Axillary Sentinel Lymph Node Accuracy In Comparison To The Permanent Histology Diagnosis. A prospective study Of 25 Invasive Breast Cancers.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative evaluation of axillary sentinel lymph node (SLN) in patients with breast carcinoma reduces the need of re-operations for axillary lymph node dissection. Various methods such as touch imprintcytology (TIC) and frozen section histology (FS) have been used to determine the SLN status intra-operatively. The sensitivity of intraoperative TIC examination on SLN is not consistent and varies in different studies. The aim of this study was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of TIC, and its feasibility in clinical use. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted on 24 female and 1 male patients with histologically proven breast carcinoma and an at most clinical stage of cT2N0, between March 2017 and 2020. Axillary lymph nodes were not detected/palpable on physical examination. The patient underwent breast-conserving surgery i.e. quadrantectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy. The intact lymph nodes were sent to histopathology laboratory for intraoperative TIC. The nodes were bisected, touch smears made and stained using the H&E and may Grunwald - Giemsa methods. The remaining tissue was processed in formalin fixed paraffin-embedded blocks and the slides were stained with H&E. RESULTS: In the three- year period (2017-2020), sentinel lymph node intraoperative touch imprint cytology was performed on 25 patients' lymph nodes with primary breast cancer and clinically negative axillary lymph nodes in Muscat Private Hospital, Muscat, Oman. The average age of the patients was 54.69 year. SLN- TIC revealed 88.9% sensitivity, 93.75% specificity, 11.1% false negative rate and 6.25% false positive with an overall accuracy 92%. CONCLUSION: Touch imprint cytology has high sensitivity and specificity with an accepted accuracy. Intraoperative TIC is practical, time-efficient, and cost-effective procedure requiring minimal tissue preparation for SLN evaluation especially in clinical practice where FS is unavailable. Intraoperative touch imprint cytology can detect macrometastasis and micrometastasis to a lesser extent. Key words: breast carcinoma, sentinel node biopsy, intraoperative diagnosis, touch imprint cytology, micrometastasis.

Breast cancer in a patient with Kindlers syndrome.

Breast Cancer (BC) has associated risk factors and genetic factors like BRCA1, and BRCA2. Many benign and malignant disease processes are found concurrently with BC and believed to be additional risk factors like gall bladder stones (cholelithiasis), hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular lesions, arthritis, spine and spinal cord degenerative lesions, infertility, depression, sleep disturbances, obesity, autoimmune diseases (SLE), and thyroid diseases. There are some malignant disease associations like synchronous or metachronous ovarian, colonic and endometrial tumours with Breast cancer. Kindler Syndrome (KS) is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder manifesting as generalized dermatoses, described in 1954 by Theresa Kindler. KS is associated with acral skin blistering inducible by trauma, mucosal inflammation, photosensitivity, progressive pigmentation, telangiectasia, and skin atrophy (Poikiloderma). Repeated and progressive inflammation and subsequent fibrosis leads to ectropion, esophageal, anal, urethral, and vaginal stenosis and dryness. About 100 cases of Kindler syndrome have been reported in literature so far some from Arab World as well. Pathobiology of Kindler syndrome is not well understood. There are defects in KIND1 gene on chromosome 20. This gene expresses itself in basal keratinocytes, where it encodes a protein, called Kindlin 1. We report the second only case of Kindler's syndrome having breast cancer. These very very rare combinations have diagnostic issues, management restrictions, prognostic and follow up implications.

Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans: A Rare Malignancy of the Breast.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) of the breast is a rare skin cancer with only a few cases reported in the literature. It corresponds to approximately 1% of all soft tissue sarcomas and to less than 0.1% of all malignancies with annual incidence of 0.8-4.5 cases per million. DFSP usually affects young and middle-aged adults and it can affect any site, but most commonly the trunk and extremities. This tumor arises from the deep dermis and subcutaneous tissues and is usually locally aggressive, but rarely metastasizes. Surgery including wide local excision with free margins remains the main modality of treatment. We report a case in a 28-year-old Omani woman who presented with a right breast lump to a local secondary hospital. She was offered excision biopsy of the lump and the histology came as DFSP with involved margins. The patient was then referred to the Breast Unit at the Royal Hospital where she was reviewed by multidisciplinary team including breast surgeons, oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, and breast radiologists. Her laboratory and radiological investigations did not show any signs of distal metastasis and breast ultrasound did not reveal any residual breast lesions. We performed a wide re-excision of the previous surgical scar with the underlying breast tissues down to the level of the pectoral fascia followed by treatment with radiotherapy. The final histology report showed the presence of a 4×5mm residual tumor, and all resection margins were tumor-free. At six months follow-up, she had no signs of local recurrence. We publish this case report because of its rarity.

Breast prothesis leakage and malignant changes of the breast.

A breast implant is a prosthesis used to enhance the size of a woman's breasts. Silicon implants are most commonly used, but as with all surgical implants it has some complications. The question is whether it can induce breast cancer? During the last year, a case of reconstructed breast with prosthesis which leaked was presented. The aim of this report is to review current literature to evaluate whether there are reported correlations between breast cancer and breast implants. The conclusion derived from this report is that there is no available evidence directly correlating breast cancer to breast implants.

Inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver--another case report. Is this the beginning of an established hepatic entity?

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver is an infrequent, fibroinflammatory non-neoplastic process of unknown etiology, generally following a benign inflammatory condition. The importance of knowledge of it resides in its similar presentation to other hepatic tumors in clinical picture, radiological appearance, and macroscopic pattern. CASE REPORT: A 71-year-old woman presented with acute abdominal pain. Ultrasonography and a computerized tomography (CT) scan showed a 3.2 cm hepatic tumor (segment IV) and a CT-guided liver biopsy revealed possible histological features of hepatic fibrosarcoma. The patient underwent a wedge resection. The pathologist identified a well-defined, 4-cm inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver associated with possible sclerosing cholangitis lesion. CONCLUSIONS: Inflammatory pseudotumor is a fibroinflammatory non-neoplastic process that should be suspected in patients with a hepatic tumor with significant infectious-inflammatory history. Percutaneous hepatic biopsy does not provide certainty in confirming the lesion since it does not discard focuses of hidden malignancy. The treatment is surgical resection followed by histopatological study to eliminate a hepatocarcinoma, a low-grade fibrosarcoma, or a hidden focus of adenocarcinoma. The inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver has changed from being an extremely rare pathology to becoming an established liver disease.

Primary melanoma of the adrenal gland, a continuous dilemma: report of a case.

The adrenal gland can frequently be the site of metastatic deposits, including malignant melanocytic tumors; however, primary melanoma of the adrenal gland is exceptional. We reviewed 18 cases reported in the English literature to date, and here add another case which occurred in a 78-year-old man. The patient underwent right suprarenalectomy and the pathology report showed a malignant melanoma of the adrenal gland. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a positive antibody-specific cytoplasmic reactivity to S-100 and HMB-45 proteins with a negative reaction for cytokeratin (AE1, AE3), synaptophysin, chromogranin and neuron-specific enolase. There are diagnostic criteria for accepting an adrenal melanoma as primary; however, an autopsy is the final step to confirm this infrequent pathology.