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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2009; 30(01): 31-34
DOI: 10.4103/0971-5851.56334
CASE REPORT

Primary mammary small-cell carcinoma: A case report and review of the literature

Altaf Gauhar Haji
Department of Surgical Oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
,
Shekhar Sharma
Department of Surgical Oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
,
D K Vijaykumar
Department of Surgical Oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
,
Poulome Mukherjee
Department of Surgical Oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
,
R Babu
Department of Surgical Oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
,
K Chitrathara
Department of Surgical Oncology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
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Abstract

Only a few cases of primary small-cell carcinoma of the breast have been documented in the current medical literature. A confident diagnosis can only be made if a nonmammary site is excluded or if an in-situ component can be demonstrated histologically. These criteria have been met only in a very few of the published cases, including this case report. We describe a case of a 68-year-old lady with left breast lump, which was diagnosed as breast cancer on fine-needle aspiration and core biopsy. Metastatic workup was negative for disease elsewhere, and she received 3 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery (modified radical mastectomy). However, the disease behaved very aggressively in the postoperative period. There is a lack of consensus regarding the management of the primary tumor. Present surgical treatment options are similar to those in cases of invasive ductal breast cancer, as appropriate for the size and stage of the lesion. A review of current literature on his rare entity is also presented.

Keywords

Small cell carcinoma - mammary - neuroendocrine tumor


Publication History

Article published online:
19 November 2021

© 2009. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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