title: The clinical management of a normal contralateral breast in patients with lobular breast cancer.
abstract: Ninety-nine patients with the diagnosis of lobular carcinoma (LC) treated between 1970 and 1981 were reviewed. Thirteen patients had a contralateral mastectomy for duct cancer (DC) before the diagnosis of LC. Ten of the remaining 86 patients (11%) had simultaneous bilateral cancers detected by either physical examination or mammography, none by blind biopsy. Three of the surviving 38 patients (7.8%) developed a contralateral cancer an average of 143 months after operation. In comparison 167 patients with DC treated during the same period of time had a 1.8% incidence of synchronous cancer but the same incidence of subsequent cancer (7%). Lobular carcinoma in situ was not a reliable marker for predicting the presence of cancers in the contralateral breast. The diagnosis of LC is not an indication for either biopsy or removal of a normal contralateral breast.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Kuhajda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D015411:Mastectomy, Modified Radical; D015409:Mastectomy, Radical; D008875:Middle Aged; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary; D010808:Physical Examination