OBJECTIVETo report the clinical and pathological characteristics of bilateral primary breast cancer (BPBC) in comparison with unilateral primary breast cancer (UPBC).

METHODSA retrospect database of primary breast cancer patients admitted to the Cancer Hospital from March 1967 through May 2003 was analyzed.

RESULTSA total of 10,470 primary breast cancer patients were treated, among which 271 patients had bilateral primary tumors with an incidence of 2.1%. Most of the BPBC, developed both synchronously (sBPBC, incidence rate: 0.6%) and metachronously (mBPBC, incidence rate: 1.5%), were diagnosed in premenopausal women with an average age of 48. In the latter cases, the median time interval between their occurrences was 57.6 months. The median survival time for patients with sBPBC and mBPBC was 29.6 months and 27.8 months, respectively. There was no statistical difference in survival rate between the 2 groups of patients. Nor was menopausal status related to survival. In mBPBC patients, when the occurrence of the second breast cancer was taken as the beginning of prognostic analysis, the prognosis of BPBC patients was worse than those with unilateral involvement.

CONCLUSIONPrognosis of patients with bilateral primary breast cancer is poor. In mBPBC patients whose breast cancers appear one after the other, meticulous follow-up is needed after resection of tumor on one side to early detect development of cancer of the countralateral breast especially within 5 years.

Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery ; China ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Mastectomy ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplasms, Second Primary ; epidemiology ; pathology ; surgery ; Premenopause ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has become accepted as a minimally invasive treatment for gastric neoplasms. However, the development of synchronous or metachronous gastric lesions after endoscopic resection has become a major problem. We investigated the characteristics of multiple gastric neoplasms in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) or gastric adenoma after ESD. METHODS: In total, 512 patients with EGC or gastric adenoma who had undergone ESD between January 2008 and December 2011 participated in this study. The incidence of and factors associated with synchronous and metachronous gastric tumors were investigated in this retrospective study. RESULTS: In total, 66 patients (12.9%) had synchronous lesions, and 13 patients (2.5%) had metachronous lesions. Older (> 65 years) subjects had an increased risk of multiple gastric neoplasms (p = 0.012). About two-thirds of the multiple lesions were similar in macroscopic and histological type to the primary lesions. The median interval from the initial lesions to the diagnosis of metachronous lesions was 31 months. The annual incidence rate of metachronous lesions was approximately 3%. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend careful follow-up in patients of advanced age (> 65 years) after initial ESD because multiple lesions could be detected in the remnant stomach. Annual surveillance might aid in the detection of metachronous lesions. Large-scale, multicenter, and longer prospective studies of appropriate surveillance programs are needed.
Adenoma/epidemiology/pathology/*surgery ; Age Factors ; Aged ; *Dissection ; Female ; Gastrectomy/*methods ; Gastric Mucosa/pathology/*surgery ; *Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary/epidemiology/pathology/*surgery ; Neoplasms, Second Primary/epidemiology/pathology/*surgery ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms/epidemiology/pathology/*surgery ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome