Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MpBC) is a rare disease entity, accounting for less than 1% of all breast carcinomas. Furthermore, it is a heterogenous disease with different subgroups, including malignant epithelial (carcinoma) and stromal ( Median 3 year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in this patients cohort were 33% and 56%, respectively. In conclusion, MpBC is a rare and orphan disease without standardized treatment approaches and the prognosis is poor so that larger studies to investigate different treatment schedules are urgently needed.

The aim of this retrospective, multicenter study was to evaluate clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of teenage and adult patients with high-grade osteosarcoma. A total of 240 osteosarcoma patients who were diagnosed and treated from March 1995 to September 2011 were analyzed. Median age was 20 years (range 13-74 years), and 153 patients (63.8%) were male. Primary tumor localization was extremity in 204 patients (85.4 %), trunk in 21 patients (8.8%) and head and neck region in 14 patients (5.9%). According to American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system, 186 patients (77.5%) were stage II, 3 (1.3%) were stage III and 48 (20.0%) were stage IV. Median overall survival (OS) was 55 months (95 % CI 36.8-73.1 months). OS after 2, 5 and 10 years were 67, 49 and 42%, respectively. Univariable analysis for OS showed that male gender (p = 0.032), high baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level (p < 0.001), high baseline serum alkaline phosphatase level (p = 0.002), telangiectatic subtype (p = 0.023), presence of metastasis at diagnosis (p < 0.001), presence of tumor positive margins after primary surgery (p = 0.015), poor pathological response to preoperative chemotherapy (p = 0.006) and presence of recurrent disease during follow-up period (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with poor survival. Patients who received postoperative methotrexate plus doxorubicin plus cisplatin (M + A + P) combination regimen (p = 0.019), underwent surgery for recurrent disease (p < 0.001) and received chemotherapy for recurrent disease (p < 0.001) had longer OS. In multivariable analysis for OS, only high LDH level (p = 0.002) and the presence of metastasis at diagnosis (p = 0.011) were associated with poor OS, whereas the patients who received chemotherapy for recurrent disease had a longer OS (p = 0.009).

Studies concerning adjuvant systemic therapy and prognosis in male breast carcinoma (MBC) are limited. We aimed to evaluate outcome of the changing practices of adjuvant systemic treatment and survival in operable MBC patients over the last two decades. The medical records of 148 MBC patients followed between the years 1986 and 2009 at 7 cancer center were evaluated retrospectively. One hundred and eighteen operable non-metastatic patients had sufficient data were included the study. One hundred and eighteen operable MBC were found to be eligible. Median age was 60 (range 29-83) years. Thirty-two percent of the patients had T3-4 tumors. Half of the patients had axillary lymph node-positive disease. The proportion of positivity of estrogen receptor(ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and HER2 status were 82.9, 75.8, and 23.4%, respectively. Only, 7 patients had triple negative (TN). Adjuvant hormonotherapy was advised for 76.8% whereas adjuvant chemotherapy for 73.7% of the patients. Median follow-up was 40.9 months (range 3.8-186 months). Locoregional and/or distant recurrence developed in thirty-eight patients (32.2%). Twenty-three patients died during the follow-up period. Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) was found to be 60%, whereas overall survival (OS) was 82%. Larger tumor size and lymph node positivity were statistically significant poor prognostic factors for OS. Although statistical insignificant, patients with HER2-positive tumors have worse DFS (52 vs. 120 months, log rank P = .73) and OS (85 vs. 144 months, log rank P = .30) than HER2-negative ones. Although the frequency of the use of adjuvant systemic therapy in MBC has been increasing and survival rates improving for the last decades, lymph node status and tumor size are still the most important determining factors for prognosis. There is a need for further prognostic information in men with HER2-positive or TN breast cancer.

The aim of this study was to evaluate prognostic factors, survival rate and the efficacy of the treatment modalities used in patients with Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT). Data of patients with ESFTs followed up at different cancer centers in Turkey between 2001 and 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. The median age of 114 patients was 26 years (range 14-66). The median follow-up was 20 months (range 1-118 months). Tumor size was between 1.5 and 14 cm (median 8 cm). Eighty-six percent of patients had localized disease at presentation, and 14 % had metastatic disease. Local therapy was surgery alone in 31 % of patients, surgery combined with radiotherapy in 41 % and radiotherapy alone in 18 %. Approximately 70 % of patients were treated with vincristine, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and actinomycin-D, alternating with ifosfamide and etoposide every 3 weeks. In patients with localized disease at presentation, the 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival were 60 and 65 %, respectively. At univariate analysis, patients with tumor size ≥ 8 cm, high serum lactate dehydrogenase, metastasis at presentation, poor histological response to chemotherapy and positive surgical margin had significantly worse event-free survival. The significant predictors of worse overall survival at univariate analysis were tumor size ≤ 8 cm, high lactate dehydrogenase, metastasis at presentation, poor histological response to chemotherapy, radiotherapy only as local treatment and positive surgical margin. ESFTs are aggressive tumors with a high incidence of local recurrence and distant metastasis. Multimodality treatment consisting of adequate surgical resection, aggressive chemotherapy (VAC alternating with IE) and radiotherapy is recommended for patients with ESFTs.

Although the toxicity profiles of both ICE and DHAP regimens were similar in the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory HD or NHL, ICE seems to have higher rates of response than DHAP regimen does.

Osteosarcomas with lung metastases are rather heterogenous group. We aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of osteosarcoma patients with lung metastases and to compare the synchronous and metachronous lung metastatic groups. A total of 93 adolescent and adult patients with lung metastatic osteosarcoma, from March 1995 to July 2011, in a single center, were included. Sixty-five patients (69.9%) were male. The median age was 19 years (range, 14–74). Thirty-nine patients (41.9%) had synchronous lung metastases (Group A) and 54 patients (58.1%) had metachronous lung metastases (Group B). The 5-year and 10-year post-lung metastases overall survival (PLM-OS) was 17% and 15%, respectively. In multivariate analysis for PLM-OS, time to lung metastases (p = 0.010), number of metastatic pulmonary nodules (p = 0.020), presence of pulmonary metastasectomy (p = 0.007) and presence of chemotherapy for lung metastases (p< 0.001) were found to be independent prognostic factors. The median PLM-OS of Group A and Group B was 16 months and 9 months, respectively. In Group B, the median PLM-OS of the patients who developed lung metastases within 12 months was 6 months, whereas that of the patients who developed lung metastases later was 16 months. Time to lung metastases, number and laterality of metastatic pulmonary nodules, chemotherapy for lung metastatic disease and pulmonary metastasectomy were independent prognostic factors for patients with lung metastatic osteosarcoma. The best PLM-OS was in the subgroup of patients treated both surgery and chemotherapy. The prognosis of the patients who developed lung metastases within 12 months after diagnosis was worst.

Primary breast carcinoma is the commonest neoplasm in women. Although rare, metastases of solid tumors from elsewhere to the breast may occur. Apart from cross-lymphatic metastasis from contralateral primary breast carcinoma, hematopoietic neoplasms occasionally involve the breast. As far as we know, less than 500 patients with secondary extramammary solid neoplasms involving the breasts have been reported in the English literature, of which malignant melanoma and lung tumors constitute the leading cause. Herein, five additional adult cases are reported and literature is reviewed. Two of the patients had primary rhabdomyosarcomas, two ovarian carcinomas, and one colon carcinoma. In one case with ovarian carcinoma, breast mass was the only manifestations of the disease relapse. All, except one with disseminated disease, had pathological diagnosis. Two of the patients died soon after the detection of breast metastasis. As a result, breast mass can be the first manifestation of relapse or part of a disseminated disease, and usually predicts poor survival.

Chemotherapy administration immediately after VPC implantation appears safe without increased acute and chronic complications in inpatient setting.