J Korean Surg Soc.  2013 May;84(5):267-272.

Primary breast lymphoma: a single institution's experience

• Jung SP
• Kim M
• Han KM
• Kim JH
• Kim JS
• Nam SJ
• Bae JW
• Lee JE

Abstract

PURPOSE
Primary breast lymphoma is a very rare disease, accounting for 0.4-0.5% of all breast malignancies. Due to the rarity, there are only limited reports of this disease in Korean women. In this reason, we report the experience of a single institution in Korea with primary breast lymphoma (PBL).
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 9 patients with PBL and evaluated the clinicopathologic characteristics and treatment outcomes.
RESULTS
All nine patients were female and had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL). The median age at diagnosis was 47.9 years and the median tumor size was 3.8 cm in diameter. The most common symptom was a painless palpable mass. Five patients were classified as stage IEA and four patients were IIEA according to the Ann Arbor staging system. Four patients underwent excisional biopsy and one patient underwent a lumpectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy due to uncertain histology of the preoperative core needle biopsy. Nine patients received anthracycline containing combined chemotherapy; among them, five patients were treated with a rituximab containing regimen. Four patients received radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy. A complete response was achieved in eight patients. During the 44 months of the median follow-up period, three cases of relapse occurred, and among them, two patients died due to disease progression.
CONCLUSION
Most PBLs are B-cell origin, with DLBL being the most common histologic type. A combined treatment modality has been known to have positive effects on prognosis, and surgery should be limited to a diagnostic purpose.

Keyword

Breast; Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Combined modality therapy; Treatment outcome

MeSH Terms

Accounting
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived
B-Lymphocytes
Biopsy
Biopsy, Large-Core Needle
Breast
Combined Modality Therapy
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Korea
Lymphoma
Lymphoma, B-Cell
Mastectomy, Segmental
Medical Records
Nitriles
Prognosis
Pyrethrins
Rare Diseases
Recurrence
Retrospective Studies
Rituximab
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
Treatment Outcome
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived
Nitriles
Pyrethrins

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Microscopic findings of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL) of the breast (A: H&E, ×12.5). Note the large cells with no particular arrangement. Most cells are very large with vesicular and prominent nuclei, and have significant nuclear pleomorphism (B: H&E, ×200). The specimen shows immunoreactivity for CD20 (C, ×200) and BCL-2 (D, ×100).

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