title: Is medullary carcinoma of the breast hormone dependent?
abstract: From 1951 to 1981, 22 patients with metastatic medullary carcinoma of the breast were treated with hormonal therapies at Roswell Park Memorial Institute. Bilateral oophorectomy was performed in 6 premenopausal patients, and none had objective response, although one patient did have stable disease for 7 months. Three of these patients subsequently underwent bilateral adrenalectomy and none responded. Thirteen of 16 postmenopausal patients underwent bilateral adrenalectomy and only one had an objective response of 4 months. Eight of 22 patients received additive hormones, and one patient was treated with Tamoxifen. There was no objective response to these therapies. From this study, it appears that medullary carcinoma of the breast is less often responsive to endocrine therapy, and this finding correlates well with the recent data showing lower frequency of estrogen receptor-positive tumors in these patients.
mesh_terms: D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002369:Castration; D005260:Female; D006728:Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones; D013629:Tamoxifen