Background. Vietnam has a low age-standardized incidence of breast cancer, but the incidence is rising rapidly with economic development. We report data from a matched case-control study of risk factors for breast cancer in the largest cancer hospital in Vietnam. Methods. 492 incident breast cancer cases unselected for family history or age at diagnosis and 1306 control women age 25–75 were recruited from the National Cancer Hospital (BVK), Hanoi. Structured interviews were conducted and pathology data was centrally reported at the National Cancer Hospital of Vietnam, in Hanoi. Results. Our analysis included 294 matched pairs. Mean age at diagnosis was 46.7 years. Lower mean parity, older age at first parity, increasing weight and BMI at age 18, and increasing BMI at diagnosis were positively correlated with breast cancer cases compared to controls. Age at first menarche and duration of breastfeeding were not statistically different between cases and controls. Conclusions. In this study we demonstrate that breast cancer in Vietnam is associated with some but not all of the published risk factors from Western populations. Our data is consistent with other studies of breast cancer in Asian populations.

SummaryThis cross-sectional study showed that peak bone mineral density in Vietnamese women is comparable to that in Caucasian women; however, the prevalence of osteoporosis in post-menopausal Vietnamese women was slightly higher than in Caucasian women. The age of achieving peak bone mass in Vietnamese women was between 26 and 30 years.IntroductionWhile peak bone mass and its determinants have been well-documented in Caucasian populations, little has been studied in Asian populations. The present study was designed to estimate the peak bone mineral density (BMD), age of its attainment, and to examine the prevalence of osteoporosis in Vietnamese women aged 50+.MethodsThe study was designed as a cross-sectional study with 328 women aged between 10 and 65 years (average age: 41) who were randomly selected from two districts around Hanoi city according to a stratified sampling scheme. BMD at the lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip was measured by a DXA instrument (GE Lunar Prodigy, WI, USA). BMD was modeled as a cubic function of age, from which peak BMD and age at peak BMD were estimated. Bootstrap method was utilized to estimate the 95% confidence interval of peak BMD and age at peak BMD. From the peak BMD, T-score was calculated for each woman, and using the World Health Organization criteria, any woman with femoral neck BMD T-score ≤ -2.5 was classified as having osteoporosis.ResultsPeak BMD was estimated at 1.16 g/cm2 (standard deviation [SD]: 0.13 g/cm2) at the lumbar spine, 1.02 g/cm2 (SD 0.12) at the total hip, and 0.94 g/cm2 (SD 0.11) at the femoral neck. In the cubic polynomial model, the age at peak BMD was estimated to range between 27 and 29 years. The prevalence of osteoporosis among those aged between 50 and 65 years was 23%. This prevalence was higher than in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Caucasian populations.ConclusionThese data suggest that although the peak BMD in Vietnamese women is comparable to, the prevalence of osteoporosis is higher than, in some other Asian and Caucasian women. It seems that osteoporosis is an important public health burden in Vietnam.

Phyllodes tumors are rare mesenchymal tumors of breast. Malignant phyllodes tumors can develop metastases to distal organs with spreading hematogenously to most frequent sites as lungs, bone and brain. Regional lymph node enlargement is common but metastasis to lymph node is a very rare phenomenon with prevalence about 1.1–3.8%. In this report, we introduce a case of malignant phyllodes tumor of breast in 57-year-old female patient. Synchronous metastases to axillary lymph nodes and lung were found at the presentation. She was treated with mastectomy combined with axillary lymph node dissection and adjuvant chemotherapy. Axillary lymph node dissection can be considered in case of proven metastatic or suspiciously palpable lymph nodes.

augmentation mammoplasty, and reduction mammaplasty, the parameters of the aesthetically perfect breast are the standard to optimize aesthetic outcomes and postoperative satisfaction.Previous studies about breast anthropometry over