Breast cancer can rarely present as isolated axillary adenopathy without any evidence of a primary breast mass, creating many diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Occult breast cancer is defined as isolated axillary adenocarcinoma without detectable tumor in the breast by either…
Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is often defined as breast cancer during pregnancy or within 1 year postpartum. Outcomes first reported in the early decades of the 20th Century were dismal. In 1929 Kilgore and Bloodgood reported a 16% (n =…
Introduction Over a quarter million women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, with over 3.6 million women living with a personal history of breast cancer. Through improvements in detection, advances in adjuvant therapies, and overall increased…
Epidemiology Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare diagnosis, with approximately 2650 estimated cases and 530 deaths in the United States in 2021. MBC accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers and less than 0.2% of all male…
In 1945 Foote and Stewart memorably stated that “the most frequent antecedent of cancer of one breast is the history of having had cancer in the opposite breast,” and contralateral breast cancer (CBC) remains the most frequent second-cancer event, historically…
Incidence and Risk Factors Brain Metastases In 2021 there are projected to be 284,200 new cases of breast cancer and 44,130 deaths from breast cancer in the United States alone. Presenting stage and current disease status (i.e., metastatic or not)…
Pleural metastases and malignant pleural effusion (MPE) may occur with metastatic breast cancer. Presentation can vary widely from an incidental finding on imaging to a large effusion with severe dyspnea. Any pleural effusion in a breast cancer patient can be…
Principles of Breast Cancer Immunotherapy Immunology of Breast Cancer The association of breast tumor immune cell (IC) infiltration and prognosis has been appreciated for decades. Given the correlation between tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), treatment response, and outcome, guidelines have been…
History of Endocrine Therapy in Breast Cancer Linking the Course of Advanced Breast Cancer to Female Reproductive Organs In 1836 Sir Astley Cooper made one of the earliest known observations suggesting a role for endocrine therapy in treating breast cancer.…
Introduction Despite significant advances and the introduction of new therapeutics for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), based on estimates from the World Health Organization there were approximately 685,000 deaths globally in 2020 from breast cancer, which remains incurable in…