The co-occurrence of breast cancer and soft tissue sarcoma in a single cohort series.
BACKGROUND
The incidence of breast cancer (BC) and soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in the Israeli general population is 97/10 women and 1.5/10 persons. It is expected that 1.5/10 x 49/10 of the women in the general population will have both BC and STS.


METHODS
A retrospective search of 1350 adult STS patient files that were recorded between 1995 and 2005.


RESULTS
One hundred thirty-four patients with STS had multiple primary malignancies. BC was observed in 27/64 patients (42%) before/after the STS: BC-first in 19/27, BC-later in 8/27. Of 19 with BC-first the STS was related to radiotherapy in 2, and to lymphedema in 1. Of 8 STS-first, only 1 got chemotherapy before BC. Median interval between first to second malignancies was 6.9 years for BC-first, and 3.8 for BC-later. The incidence of BC among all patients with STS-first followed by a second malignancy is 8/58 (14%), or 27/890 (3%) of all women STS-patients in the registry. The incidence of STS among the BC patients was low, and most of our cases were therapy unrelated. Median survival for BC-first was 305 months, versus 213 for STS-first.


CONCLUSIONS
BC and STS may naturally occur in the same individual. The etiology for this phenomenon is unclear. Practically, BC screening in patients with STS is warranted.
Geva
Ravit
R
Unit of Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology, Division of Oncology, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Jiveliouk
Irina
I
Inbar
Moshe
M
Meller
Isaac
I
Friedman
Eitan
E
Merimsky
Ofer
O
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000473:pathology*; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult