Clinical analysis of secretory breast cancer: 39 cases

Objective Secretory breast cancer is a rare and specific subtype of breast carcinoma,and most reports on it are case report.This study is to explore the clinicopathological and prognosis characteristics of secretory breast cancer in Chinese.Methods The clinicopathological data of 39 patients of secretory breast cancer diagnosed from Jan.1986 to Mar.2012 at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital were retrospectively analyzed.The postoperative follow-up was 2 to 221 months,with a median follow-up of 73 months.The clinicopathological features and survival condition were observed.Results There were 2 male and 37 female patients,ranging from 11 to 75 years old,with the median age of 52 years old.The main clinical manifestation of secretory breast cancer was breast mass.30 patients(76.9％)were in T2 breast cancer(2 cm ＜ T ≤5 cm),29 patients (74.4％)were in clinical stage Ⅱ according to TNM stage,and 24 patients (61.5％)had no lymph node metastasis.17 patients(54.8％)had positive expression of estrogen receptor(ER),11 patients(37.9％)had positive expression of progesterone receptor(PR),and 9 patients (42.9％) were triple negative breast cancer.During the follow-up,2 patients(5.1％)died from the disease,and 2 patients under than 20 had no recurrence or metastasis.Conclusions Secretory breast cancer occurs in both sexes with a wide age range,mostly in an early clinical stage.The positive expression rate of hormone receptor is low.The proportion of triple negative breast cancer is high.The overall prognosis of patients with secretory breast cancer is good.Because of the risk of metastasis,patients should be followed up for a long time.It seems that juvenile patients have a better prognosis. Key words: Secretory breast cancer; Clinicopathological features