Bilateral breast carcinoma: Prospective evaluation of factors assisting diagnosis

Abstract

Bilateral primary breast cancers occur commonly enough to justify adoption of special pre- and post-initial therapy screening. A 13.2% incidence of bilateral breast carcinoma has been found in the breast cancer patients who presented to the Fox Chase Cancer Center with an operatively manageable primary in an arbitrarily defined 30-month period and who have been followed for at least 20 months thereafter. Of the 287 patients seen in those 30 months, 4.5% had synchronously detectable lesions. Xeroradiography is helpful in the initial and follow-up evaluation of the patient for detection of a second primary and may lead to the discovery of an earlier-stage lesion. A history of a family member having a breast cancer was shown to be significant, 26% and 24% for primary and secondary relatives, respectively, and warrant a special screening strategy. Recognition of these factors may lead to earlier detection of curable breast cancers.

Bilateral breast carcinoma: 28 years' experience

“…In 34.5% of our patients, the carcinoma in the second breast was found symmetrically located with the initial carcinoma. These findings support other authors' data [5,11,15]. For this reason, Urban and associates [16], Fenig and colleagues [17], and Pressman [18] have suggested mirror image biopsy for the symmetrical position of the first carcinoma and/or a blind biopsy for the upper outer quadrant.…”

“…It has been indicated that the risk of bilateral breast carcinoma is higher in patients whose family members have had cancer, especially those who have had breast carcinoma in the premenopausal period [6,[13][14][15]. In our series, we did not find a difference between the family history of patients with unilateral breast carcinoma and the family history of patients with bilateral breast carcinoma.…”

Incidence and Detection of Contralateral Breast Cancer

“…Because of the controversies regarding the magnitude of risk and risk factors which may help to identify those at increased risk, the management of the contralateral breast varies from one institution to another. It ranges from surveillance only with frequent clinical examination and mammography, to selected contralateral biopsy or prophylactic mastectomy (13,19,20).…”

Cancers du sein bilatéraux synchrones : facteurs de risque, diagnostic, histologie, traitement

“…Les cancers du sein bilatéraux synchrones (CSBS) ne sont pas exceptionnels et leur incidence peut être estimée entre 1,5 et 3,2 % selon l'intervalle diagnostique choisi par les auteurs [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Pour la majorité d'entre eux, la deuxième tumeur doit être diagnostiquée dans les six mois.…”