Cancers of unknown primary (CUP) constitute a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for clinicians and a frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in Western countries. Immunohistochemistry assays are commonly used to identify the primary cancer, but fail in approximately one-third of cases. The identification of the possible origin of CUP is crucial, as it may help select the appropriate treatment options. We herein present the case of a 54-year-old male patient, who presented with lower back pain in June, 2013. Following a thorough investigation, the clinical and pathological findings could not identify the primary cancer, leading towards a misdiagnosis. Ultimately, microRNA testing of the resected spine lesion was able to identify the primary tumor as male breast cancer and allow for optimal treatment of the patient.
Background: Prognosis for patients with original glioblastoma diagnosis remains poor. Antiangiogenic therapy with Bevacizumab in first line treatment did not lead to improvement in overall survival, while progression-free survival was prolonged by 3 to 4 months, in recent phase III studies. Bevacizumab therapy in glioblastomas is not successfully associated with any prognostic biological markers. Our study investigates the correlation between the use of bevacizumab and several clinical and molecular markers measured in gliomas everyday clinical practice.
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