Anuradha, V

Bapsy, PP

Mukherjee, G

Reddy, CO

Bioline International

Indian Journal of Cancer | October–December 2008 | Volume 45 | Issue 4182182 CMYKLetters to EditorDefi ning age cut off age for “Young patients” with breast cancerDear Sir,Breast cancer that develops at a young age is different from that arising in older menopausal patients. These differences are attribute to the faster tumor growth, [represented by the short doubling time], expression of markers of metastatic potential like MMP2, and high levels of markers for the drug resistance.[1] On the other hand, there have been earlier reports that suggested that there was no significant difference in outcome between younger, versus older women with breast cancer.[1,2] However, the weight of literature appears to support generally worse behavior in breast cancer in younger women. The question that was overlooked by many was “the age cut off ”. Majority of the literature suggest that patients younger than 40 are considered as the young patients. This assumption was achieved based on the earlier reports stating that the women under 40 are unlikely to achieve menopause after chemotherapy, and the benefit in Hormone receptor positive patients was less.[3] However, as the mean age of the patients with breast cancer in India is almost 5 years less than that of the western world,[4] the same might not be true across the globe. The Indian data too suggest a relatively worse prognosis from the western Indians and no/little differences from the reports of Adayar cancer institute. The careful review suggested that in studies where the cut off age of 40 years was chosen, the difference was not as pronounced as it was observed in those studies where cut off age was chosen as 35.[1-6] Probably the only study that addressed this issue was by OJ et al, who also found on multivariate analysis, that age <35 years was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of loco regional recurrence even when compared to those who were between 35 and 40. The five-year rate of loco regional control was 87.9% in patients <35 years old compared with 91.7% in patients 35 to 40 years old (P = 0.042).[5] Similarly the systematic review of various studies yielded similar results. In the results published in a recent conference in the metastatic setting, which suggested that younger patients have a worse disease course, even matching for the other known prognostic variables.[6] Reddy CO, Anuradha V1, Mukherjee G, Bapsy PPDepartment of Pathology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncol-ogy, Bangalore, 1Department of Pathology, Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India.Correspondence to: Dr. Anuradha V, E-mail: dranu92000@yahoo.co.inReferencesAnders CK, Hsu DS, Broadwater G, Acharya CR, Foekens JA, Zhang 1. Y, et al. Young age at diagnosis correlates with worse prognosis and defi nes a subset of breast cancers with shared patterns of gene expression. J Clin Oncol 2008;26:3324-30.Khanfi r A, Frikha M, Kallel F, Meziou M, Trabelsi K, Boudawara T, 2. et al. Breast cancer in young women in the south of Tunisia. Cancer Radiother 2006;10:565-71.Pagani O, O’Neill A, Castiglione M, Gelber RD, Goldhirsch A, Ruden-3. stam CM, et al. Prognostic impact of amenorrhoea after adjuvant chemotherapy in premenopausal breast cancer patients with axillary node involvement: Results of the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) Trial VI. Eur J Cancer 1998;34:632-40.Population based cancer registry India 2004. Report No. 6 2004.4. Oh JL, Bonnen M, Outlaw ED, Schechter NR, Perkins GH, Strom EA, 5. et al. The impact of young age on locooregional recurrence after doxorubicin-based breast conservation therapy in patients 40 years old or younger: How young is “young”? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2006:65:1345-52.Jain A, Attili VS, Bapsy PP. Prognostic variables in metastatic 6. breast cancer: Is there an age differential? Eur J Cancer Suppl 1969;5:223.Ipsilateral axillary tubercular lymphadenopathy, contralateral osseous tuberculosis in a case of ductal carcinoma of breastDear Sir,The coexistence of breast cancer and tuberculosis has been described in over 100 cases[1-6] however its coexistence in the axillary node is rare.[1,4-6] We present a case of, 43-year-old housewife presented with complaint of diffuse swelling over right distal forearm associated with dull pain of 4 months duration, for which she received conservative management but without relief. Around a month later she developed pathological fracture in the forearm after following trivial trauma. [Figure 1] Following FNAC report that suggested the lesion to be of chronic granulomatous lesion she was 

Defining age cut off age for "Young patients" with breast cancer

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Bioline International