Therapeutic mammoplasty: a “wise” oncoplastic choice—lessons from the largest single-center cohort from Asia

IntroductionThe majority of breast cancer patients from India usually present with advanced disease, limiting the scope of breast conservation surgery. Therapeutic mammoplasty (TM), an oncoplastic technique that permits larger excisions, is quite promising in such a scenario and well suited to breast cancer in medium-to-large-sized breasts with ptosis and in some cases of large or multifocal/multicentric tumors. Here, we describe our TM cohort of 205 (194 malignant and 11 benign) patients from 2012 to 2019 treated at a single surgeon center in India, the largest Asian dataset for TM.MethodsAll patients underwent treatment after careful discussions by a multidisciplinary tumor board and patient counseling. We report the clinicopathological profiles and surgical, oncological, cosmetic, and patient-related outcomes with different TM procedures.ResultsThe median age of breast cancer patients was 49 years; that of benign disease patients was 41 years. The breast cancer cohort underwent simple (n = 84), complex (n = 71), or extreme (n = 44) TM surgeries. All resection margins were analyzed through intra-operative frozen-section assessment with stringent rad-path analysis protocols. The margin positivity rate was found to be 1.4%. A majority of the cohort was observed to have pT1–pT2 tumors, and the median resection volume was 180 cc. Low post-operative complication rates and good-to-excellent cosmetic scores were observed. The median follow-up was 39 months. We observed 2.07% local and 5.7% distal recurrences, and disease-specific mortality was 3.1%. At median follow-up, the overall survival was observed to be 95.9%, and disease-free survival was found to be 92.2%. The patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) showed good-to-excellent scores for all types of TMs across BREAST-Q domains.ConclusionWe conclude that in India, a country where women present with large and locally advanced tumors, TM safely expands the indications for breast conservation surgery. Our results show oncological and cosmetic outcomes at acceptable levels. Most importantly, PROM scores suggest improved overall wellbeing and better satisfaction with the quality of life. For patients with macromastia, this technique not only focuses on cancer but also improves self-image and reduces associated physical discomfort often overlooked by women in the Indian setting. The popularization of this procedure will enable Indian patients with breast cancer to receive the benefits of breast conservation

Sacrococcygeal chordoma presenting as a retro rectal tumour

INTRODUCTION: Chordomas are rare, slow growing, locally destructive bone tumours arising from the notochord. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Presenting a case of a 65 year old man, who presented with complaints of swelling on the right lower back for 1 year associated with pain. On, physical examination, a swelling measuring 5 cm × 4 cm was noted in the lower back with posterior wall indentation on per rectal examination. MRI revealed a mass lesion involving the sacrum (s3–s4) and coccyx. FNAC showed features of a chroma. At surgery, we excised a mass from the retrorectal space and biopsy proved it to be a chondroid chordoma, a variant of chordoma. DISCUSSION: Chordomas are solid malignant tumours that arise from vestiges of the foetal notochord. Common locations are the clivus and the sacrococcygeus region. Annual incidence of these tumours is 1 in one million. MRI is the imaging modality of choice. Prognosis improves based on the age, resected margins and postoperative treatment. CONCLUSION: Here, we shall discuss the literature, variants, treatment and prognosis of this rare tumour