۱٫ Background

۲٫ Materials and methods

۳٫ Results

۴٫ Discussion

۵٫ Conclusion

References

Abstract

Mucinous carcinoma (MC) is a rare breast cancer characterized by the presence of large extracellular mucin amount. Two main subtypes can be distinguished: pure (PMC) and mixed (MMC). We conducted a retrospective MC analysis in our prospective maintained database, calculating disease-free survival (DFS) and 5-year overall survival (OS). We found a global 92.1% OS (higher in MMC group and statistically significative) and a DFS of 95.3% (higher in MMC group but not statistically significative).

Background

Mucinous carcinoma (MC) represents about 4% of all invasive breast cancers [7] and results in being more common in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. It has a better prognosis compared to other breast malignant neoplasia such as ductal or lobular variants [6].

Pure mucinous breast cancer (PMC) represents about 2% of all malignant breast tumours. In a retrospective series of 11.400 PMC cases, the median age at diagnosis was 71 years versus 61 years observed in patients with infiltrative ductal carcinomas [15]. Metastatic disease rate ranges between 12% and 14% in the largest case series reported [15]. Prognosis is better than no special type breast carcinomas [10]. The 10-year survival rate is about 90.4% [16]. From a histological point of view, it is important to differentiate PMC from mixed types of ductal carcinoma with mucinous component (mixed mucinous breast cancer – MMC), which occur in only 2% of breast tumours. Interestingly, the latter have an identical prognosis compared to non-mucinous tumours [16,17]. Axillary lymph nodes are rarely involved; nevertheless, a nodal metastatic disease can worsen the survival rates and it is considered as one of the most important prognostic factors [17].