A case of long term survival with skeletal only metastatic breast cancer

IntroductionThe prognosis of patients with metastatic breast cancer is very poor. Because of this, treatment of skeletal metastasis is often palliative with limited goals rather than cure. However, there are those patients, such as presented here, who survive for an extended time.Presentation of caseThis thirty-six year old female presented with lytic lesions to one ulna and rib five years after mastectomy for breast cancer. Despite radiation and chemotherapy, the ulnar lesion expanded and resulted in an elbow dislocation. The rib lesion was resected and the arm amputated above the elbow. She developed local recurrence in both her above elbow amputation stump and chest wall and a more proximal below shoulder amputation was performed with resection of chest wall lesion. Even though she had locally aggressive disease, she has survived for 31 years after diagnosis without any evidence of disease.DiscussionReports of metastatic breast cancer survival indicate the five year survival to be 15%. There have been few reports indicating that those patients with skeletal only or oligometastatic disease have improved prognosis. It is not clear what biological properties of these tumors results in the improved survival.ConclusionThis case highlights the challenges of giving patients the optimal treatment in the light of limited ability to predict prognosis. It also highlights the need to further investigate the phenotypes of breast cancer that can, despite metastatic disease and with modern treatment go on to long survival. In addition this case demonstrates the importance of long term followup.     

The continuing conundrum in oligometastatic breast carcinoma: A real-world data

The optimal management in Oligometastatic (OM) breast carcinoma is not defined.ObjectivesTo identify the prognostic factors influencing OM and the effect of Locoregional treatment (LRT) on survival in OM.MethodologyPatients with ≤5 metastases and each with ≤ 5 cm size were defined as OM. Data of OM were extracted from the Institute Registry between 2012 and 2018. The impact of prognostic factors on survival was analysed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression. The Kaplan Meier survival curves were used to plot PFS and OS.ResultsThere were 170 patients with OM. The median follow-up was 61 months. Median OS was 43.3 months. The median OS was 74 months in OMD vs 22.7 months in Oligorecurrent disease (ORD) with 5year OS rate of 55.3% vs 16.5% respectively. In the multivariate analyses of OMD both Ki67 ≤ 50% and hormone therapy (HT) showed significant favourable survival outcome. While premenopausal status and HT showed significant survival benefits in ORD. The worse survival outcome in ORD could be because of their aggressive biology and deficit in LRT compared to literature review. The prognostic factors were swayed by the uneven distribution of HR status, grade and Ki67.ConclusionThe survival of OM was influenced by OMD, Ki67 ≤ 50%, premenopausal status and HT. The lesser survival rates of OM in the long term suggest the need for curative LRT to metastatic sites and primary tumor. The potential role of HT and targeted therapy with or without LRT need to be assessed in future randomised trials.     

The Role of Metastasectomy in Urothelial Carcinoma: Where Are We in 2020?

Systemic therapy is the mainstay of treatment for metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC). Responses to first-line platinum-based therapy tend to be short-lived with potential toxicity. Despite the approval of checkpoint inhibitors, the long-term prognosis for patients with metastatic UC remains dismal. Herein we report the case of a patient with a solitary pulmonary metastatic lesion of urothelial origin as the only site of metastatic disease who remained free of disease for more than 2 years without systemic therapy after metastasectomy. We review the literature discussing the role of combined surgical and medical management of oligometastatic UC. As our case illustrates, a growing body of evidence suggests a potential role for a multimodal approach in patients with oligometastatic UC.     

Evolution of treatment strategies for oligometastatic NSCLC patients – A systematic review of the literature

BackgroundThe concept of oligometastatic disease (OMD) has expanded the scope of potentially curative therapy for metastatic NSCLC. However, large uncertainties remain regarding its definition and optimal management strategies. We therefore conducted a systematic review to investigate the value of various multimodality treatment concepts.MethodsWe searched the available literature in Pubmed, Medline and EMBASE using the terms “oligomet*”, “synchron*”, “oligorec*”, “metachr*” “NSCLC”, “lung cancer” and “stage IV” and included studies reporting treatment regimens and outcomes on radically treated patients with either “synchronous”, “metachronous” or “mixed” OMD. Only de-novo diagnosis of OMD was considered. The impact of patient and treatment characteristics on overall survival (OS) and time trends in patterns of care were investigated.Results54 studies published between 1987 and 2018 were included. Despite a wide range of OMD definitions, 90.1% of patients were treated for a single metastasis. Systemic therapy was used as backbone treatment for most patients. Although surgery was the preferred local treatment in earlier studies, the use of stereotactic radiotherapy increased rapidly after 2011. No OS difference was observed between surgery or radiotherapy as the treatment of primary tumor or metastases, respectively. A time trend towards improved OS after 2011 could be detected.ConclusionsWhile evidence in favor of radical treatment is emerging, most studies remain retrospective and mainly evaluate patients with singular metastases. While surgery, stereotactic radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the cornerstones of current treatment strategies, future clinical trials need to address the high risk of distant metastases by integrating targeted or immunotherapy.     

The expanding role of stereotactic body radiation therapy in oligometastatic solid tumors: What do we know and where are we going?

The spectrum hypothesis posits that there are distinct clinical states of metastatic progression. Early data suggest that aggressive treatment of more biologically indolent metastatic disease, characterized by metastases limited in number and destination organ, may offer an opportunity to alter the disease course, potentially allowing for longer survival, delay of systemic therapy, or even cure. The development of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has opened new avenues for the treatment of oligometastatic disease. Early data support the use of SBRT for treating oligometastases in a number of organs, with promising rates of treated metastasis control and overall survival. Ongoing investigation is required to definitively establish benefit, determine the appropriate treatment regimen, refine patient selection, and incorporate SBRT with systemic therapies.     

Ⅳ期寡转移NSCLC放疗及最佳介入时机研究

目的 明确胸部放疗在Ⅳ期寡转移NSCLC治疗中的意义,探索胸部放疗最佳介入时机。方法 将2008-2014年山西省肿瘤医院192例Ⅳ期“寡转移”NSCLC患者随机均分为单纯化疗组、放疗早期介入组、放疗中期介入组、放疗晚期介入组。Kanplan-Meier法生存分析。结果 192例寡转移Ⅳ期NSCLC中位生存期为14.50个月,1、2、3年生存率分别为57.4%、24.0%、10.7%。单纯化疗组、放疗早期介入组、放疗中期介入组、放疗晚期介入组中位生存期分别为10、21、18、13个月,1年生存率分别为34%、73%、71%、51%,2年生存率分别为10%、40%、32%、13%,3年生存率分别为0%、24%、16%、3%(P=0.000)。放疗剂量≥60 Gy与<60 Gy者的中位生存期分别为21个月与13个月,1年生存率分别为76%与53%,2年生存率分别为34%与21%,3年生存率为17%与10%(P=0.002)。结论 对于Ⅳ期寡转移NSCLC患者,胸部病灶放疗的较早期介入和高剂量放疗能提高患者局控率,延长生存期。