Myiasis associated with an invasive ductal carcinoma of the left breast: case study

Abstract

Most breast cancers originate in the ductal epithelium and are referred to as invasive ductal carcinoma. In this study we report on the clinical procedures adopted to diagnose myiasis in association with infiltrating metastatic breast carcinoma in a female patient. A 41 years old woman came to the Federal Hospital of Andaraí complaining of intense itching, warmth, redness and hardening of the breast, which had acquired the aspect of an orange peel. A lesion in the left breast was cavitated, dimpled, had fetid odor, and had fibrotic and infected air nodules filled with exudate and Dipteran larvae. The tissue was cleaned and 33 larvae were extracted. The patient was hospitalized and received Ivermectin. Eighteen of the larvae extracted from the patient were placed in 70% alcohol, and twelve were placed in a container with sterile wood shavings under controlled conditions until they metamorphosed into adults. The taxonomic identification of the flies revealed that the culprit was Cochliomyia hominivorax. A histopathological exam conducted three months earlier had revealed infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Two months after the myiasis treatment, the breast tissue had healed. The patient had waited ten days from the onset of the myiasis to seek treatment, and that delay interfered negatively in the prognosis of both the neoplasm and the myiasis. This study is relevant to public health in view of the strong social impact of myiasis.

Nursing Care in Dermatologic Oncology: a Qualitative Study

“…Our results show the distress provoked by this wrenching experience of skin cancer could impede nurses' supportive care role as it is a specific risk factor for compassion fatigue or burnout in nurses in dermatology departments providing care to patients with skin cancer. This distressful experience described here in this specific context can be transposed to any other situations where oncology nurses are providing care to patient with a cancer that can be seen or smelled, such as advanced and recurrent breast cancer-with the sight and fetid odor emanating from ulcerated tumors- [26,27], extensive tumors of the head or neck-very often with a fetid odor- [28], or rectal cancer [29].…”

Cutaneous myiasis in skin cancer and malignant wounds: a systematic review

“…1). 5–7,17–104 A case series of Sowani et␣al 98 . with 83 patients was excluded from our study due to severe limitations in the eligibility methods, lack of precision in the clinical findings, and lack of histopathological confirmation.…”

Carcinomas escamosos com miíase, uma nova tendência?

“…Carcinomas de células escamosas estão tipicamente relacionados à perda da integridade tecidual devido ao crescimento tumoral e a formação de feridas neoplásicas. Assim como descrito por nosso grupo de pesquisa em outro artigo sobre um carcinoma ductal de mama infestado por miíase 10 . Questões socioeconômicas e de higiene estão implicadas tanto na infecção por miíase quanto na infecção pelo HPV e o desenvolvimento de certos tipos de câncer como o de orofaringe e de pênis 11 .…”