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Studies that report equivalent oncologic outcomes of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone versus axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for T1-2N1mi breast cancers are heavily weighted with patients who received breast-conserving surgery (BCS). The impact of omitting ALND in N1mi patients treated with mastectomy is not well studied. It is also unknown if these patients would benefit from post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT). This study reports the outcomes of patients with T1-2N1mi breast cancer treated by mastectomy without axillary therapy.Patients who had T1-2N1mi breast cancer and underwent mastectomy from January 1998 to December 2018 were identified from our multi-institutional prospective database. Axillary recurrence rate (ARR), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) are reported.260 patients with pT1-2N1mi breast cancer who had mastectomy were identified. They had either SLNB (35.4%) or ALND (64.6%). Majority of these patients received adjuvant systemic therapy (93.8%). 77 (29.6%) patients received radiotherapy, 31 after SLNB and 46 after ALND. At median follow-up of 61 months, ARR was 1.1% (n = 1) in the SLNB only group, vs. 0.6% (n = 1) in the ALND group (p = 0.752). DFS and OS were not significantly different between patients with SLNB alone versus ALND (p = 0.40 and p = 0.27, respectively). Among 92 patients who had SLNB only, no DFS or OS difference was observed with the use of PMRT.In T1-2N1mi patients with mastectomy and SLNB, axillary recurrences were rare. No statistically significant differences were noted between patients with SLNB, ALND, or PMRT. Our findings suggest that these patients may be safely treated without axillary therapy.

Invasive ductal carcinoma of the nipple-areolar complex is exceedingly rare. Patients who present with bloody nipple discharge with or without the presence of Paget's disease constitute one-third of all symptomatic in situ patients. Only rarely does an invasive cancer cause nipple discharge in the absence of a clinical mass. Even more obscure is the case of the invasive cancer involving solely the nipple-areolar complex. Sir James Paget first described 'an eczematous change in the skin of the nipple preceding an underlying mammary cancer' in 1874, which is now known as Paget's disease, considered to be ductal carcinoma in situ of the nipple-areolar region. There are two competing theories as to the pathogenesis of Paget's disease of the breast-one suggests that Pagetoid cells are keratinocytes that have undergone malignant transformation. According to this theory, Paget's disease of the breast represents an in situ carcinoma of the skin-and that overlying skin changes and underlying malignancy are discontinuous. The second theory suggests that cells migrate along basement membranes and enter the epidermis and dermis of the nipple-areola complex. Pagetoid cells and underlying carcinomas demonstrate similar immunohistochemical staining patterns.

Microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its long-term outcomes remains poorly studied in Asians. We investigate the prognostic significance of microsatellite instability in an Asian population and assess its clinical impact in patients who undergo adjuvant chemotherapy. Six hundred fifty-four consecutive CRC patients who underwent surgical resection between January 2010 and December 2012 were recruited. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier approach. Univariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratios for variables associated with survival. A subgroup analyses was performed for stage III patients who underwent chemotherapy to evaluate the prognostic significance of microsatellite instability in this group. Five hundred ninety-one (90.4%) patients were microsatellite stable (MSS) while 63 (9.6%) were microsatellite instable (MSI). Three years recurrence-free survival (RFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were 83.7 versus 73.7% (p = 0.295) and 87.1 versus 91.2% (p = 0.307) in MSS and MSI tumors, respectively. Among stage III patients who received adjuvant therapy, MSI status was found to be an adverse prognostic factor for RFS (HR 2.74 (95% CI 1.43–5.26), p = 0.002). This remained significant on multivariate analysis (HR 2.38 (95% CI 1.15–4.93), p = 0.018). Adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with survival benefit for patients with MSS tumors (HR 0.35, 95% CI 0.17–0.69, p = 0.002) but not MSI tumors (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.08–8.15, p = 0.750). MSI status is not a prognostic indicator in the general CRC population but appears to be an adverse prognostic indicator for RFS in stage III CRC patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy.