Comparison of the clinical and prognostic features of primary breast sarcomas and malignant phyllodes tumor

Abstract

Objective: Primary breast sarcoma is a kind of extremely rare disease. Malignant phyllodes tumor represents a specific subset of breast soft tissue tumors. So till now, the classification and clinical management of primary breast sarcoma and malignant phyllodes tumor are controversial. The aim of this study is to explore the differences in clinical features, treatment, disease-free survival and overall survival between primary breast sarcoma and malignant phyllodes tumor group.

Methods: A retrospective review of 35 cases with primary breast sarcoma and 70 cases with malignant phyllodes tumor registered from 1995 to 2010 was carried out in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital. Prognosis in terms of disease-free survival and overall survival was evaluated.

Results: In primary breast sarcoma group, the result of univariate analysis demonstrated that surgical type, histopathological nodal status and local recurrence were significantly correlated with disease-free survival and overall survival. While, the result of monofactorial analysis showed the tumor size was significant prognostic indicator of disease-free survival and overall survival in malignant phyllodes tumor group. The Kaplan-Meier curves for 5-year disease-free survival rates and overall survival rates demonstrated that no significant difference was found between the primary breast sarcoma and malignant phyllodes tumor group (P = 0.702 and 0.772, respectively).

Conclusions: The primary breast sarcoma patients had identical disease-free survival and overall survival compared with the malignant phyllodes tumor patients, which indicated that primary breast sarcoma and malignant phyllodes tumor patients should be treated with the same strategies. Surgical management is important for both the primary breast sarcoma and malignant phyllodes tumor patients. The role of the adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy remains uncertain.

Keywords: clinical strategy; malignant phyllodes tumor; primary breast sarcomas; prognosis.