Inflammatory breast cancer: a race against screening

Inflammatory breast cancer [IBC] is a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer that is characterized by rapid progression, younger age of onset, and poor prognosis. These findings underline a long list of differential diagnosis where clinical, radiological and histological inputs are essential. One limitation to establishing the diagnosis is a poor sensitivity of a test with high negative predictive value. In this paper, we report the case of a rapid growing IBC where two imaging techniques failed at establishing the diagnosis

Early increase of CA 19-9 in advanced pancreatic cancer receiving FOLFIRINOX: Is it a sign of efficacy?

Advanced pancreatic cancer [APC], one of the most aggressive tumors, was considered to be resistant to chemotherapy for decades. FOLFIRINOX [5-FU, leucovorin, irinotecan and oxaliplatin] regimen showed an improvement of quality of life and overall survival in APC patients with good performance status [ECOG < 2]

Material and methods: Seven patients diagnosed with APC, during a six-month period, received FOLFIRINOX as first line treatment. Tumor measurement was assessed every two months and CA 19-9, the specific tumor marker of pancreatic cancer, was assessed every two weeks at every cycle

Results: Three patients out of seven receiving FOLFIRINOX experienced an early and transitory increase of CA 19-9 after the first two cycles resulting in a considerable response with a median survival of 15 months and suggesting a model of tumor release syndrome

Conclusion: This phenomenon of early and transitory increase of CA 19-9 in APC could reflect the high efficacy of FOLFIRINOX and could predict better outcome in these patients