Coincidence of thymoma and breast cancer and in a 56-year-old female patient

Abstract

We present a case of a 56-year-old female, with a familial history of breast, lung and brain cancer, which revealed a breast tumor, located in the upper outer quadrant of the left breast. During the routinely staging examinations, a 15 cm intrathoracic tumor was found in the upper left mediastinum, penetrating the pericardium and a smaller tumor, in the left side of parietal pleura. Core biopsies from both lesions, revealed a lobular carcinoma of the breast classic type, grade II (e-cadherin-, ER+, PR+, Her-2−, Ki-67 10%) and a B3 thymoma (CK19+, CD5+) penetrating the pericardium and the left lung. A synchronous removal of both tumors was scheduled, including median sternotomy and left intrapericardial pneumonectomy, followed by a modified radical left mastectomy and a sentinel lymph node biopsy. The postoperative course was uneventful. This case advocates that thymoma patients appear to have a predisposition towards developing additional neoplasms, as breast carcinoma. Clinicians should be aware of the increased incidence of extrathymic cancers, occurring in thymoma patients.

Clinicopathological Features of 166 Cases of Invasive Ductal Breast Carcinoma and Effect of Primary Tumor Location on Prognosis after Modified Radical Mastectomy

“…In addition, due to the excessive penetration of mammography to the nipple-areolar complex, tumors in the central region are often overlooked, requiring the combination of multiple imaging techniques [ 28 ]. The molybdenum target detection rate of breast cancer in the central region is low, and the tumor is detected in a late stage, which delays the treatment time and reduces the five-year survival rate of patients [ 29 ].…”

Anal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Patient with Myasthenia Gravis: Is Immunosuppression the Main Underlying Etiology?

“…In patients with autoimmune diseases like MG, immune function can be compromised because of intrinsic alteration in the immune system, immunosuppressive therapies, or both. Consequently, patients with autoimmune disease may be at increased risk of anal SCC [ 5 - 6 ]. We believe that our present case falls into this criteria.…”

“…Their immune function is compromised by the autoimmune nature of the disease as well as the use of immunosuppressive medications in its treatment. Moreover, it is well known that MG patients (30-50% of cases) frequently have benign and malignant thymomas that also increase the risk of extrathymic malignancy [ 4 - 6 ].…”

“…Hemminki, et al studied the occurrence of histology-specific GI cancers in patients diagnosed with 33 different autoimmune diseases. They reported that MG was associated with five different GI cancers (upper digestive tract, esophageal SCC, stomach cancer, and colorectal cancer) with standardized incident ratios ranging from 1.35 to 2.78 [ 6 ].…”

“…Additionally, other compromised immune disorders such as hematologic malignancies, solid organ transplantation, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are also associated with increased susceptibility to the development of anal SCC [ 3 - 4 ]. Anecdotally, patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) with or without thymoma have been reported in patients with risk of developing extrathymic tumors, such as colon cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma and very rarely anal SCC [ 5 - 6 ]. We present here a unique case related to the rare association between MG and anal SCC and review the literature.…”