title: Metaplastic carcinoma of breast: A case series of seven patients from a tertiary care center and review of literature.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Metaplastic carcinoma of breast (MCB) is a rare histological subtype of breast carcinoma and accounts for less than 1 percent of the total breast cancer cases. Here we are reporting a series of seven patients of MCB from single institute along with review of literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients records from January 2008 to August 2014 were retrieved to search for MCB patients. A etrospective review was conducted to document the clinicopathological features, treatment and outcomes of these patients. The data was entered in a predesigned proforma document.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven patients were diagnosed to have MCB during this period. Most common symptom at presentation was lump in the breast with associated discharge per nipple in one patient. On histology, there was no definite differentiation in four patients while one patient had spindle cell neoplasia, one had osteoid and chondroid neoplasia respectively. Five patients underwent modified radical mastectomy while other two patients underwent simple mastectomy. All the patients were pathologically node negative and triple negative breast cancer. Adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy was given to all patients. Median follow up was 4 years (Range 3-6 years). Three out of seven patients completed 5 years of follow up. One patient developed isolated liver metastasis six years after completion of the treatment and she lost to follow up for further treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Metaplastic carcinoma of breast is a rare disease entity and there are no specific treatment guidelines. The prognosis of patients in this rare sub group remains poor and multi institutional studies evaluating role of new therapies may be required to improve outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.|Department of Radiation Oncology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160012, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Julka
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Rath
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008679:Metaplasia; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Metaplastic breast cancer; outcome.; treatment