title: Breast carcinoma with choriocarcinomatous features.
abstract: Although breast carcinomas have been shown to produce various ectopic substances, including human chorionic gonadotropin, it is rare to identify morphologic differentiation compatible with the hormone produced by a tumor. Presently, only eight cases of breast carcinoma with focal choriocarcinomatous differentiation have been reported in the literature. This article describes the pathologic findings, immunohistochemical profile, and clinical course in two additional cases of this unusual variant of breast carcinoma. In the first case, the tumor had morphologic features suggestive of medullary carcinoma, and the patient is doing well 12 months after presentation. In the second case, the tumor was locally advanced at presentation with histologic features consistent with metaplastic carcinoma having squamous, sarcomatoid, and choriocarcinomatous elements. The patient presented with extensive multifocal metastases 6 months after the initial presentation and is not responding well to standard or experimental treatment regimen. Immunostaining for the beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin was localized mostly, but not entirely, to multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast-like giant cells within both tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Resetkova
authors.forename: Aysegul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Alberto G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Ayala
authors.forename: Nour
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sneige
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human