Case report: Axillary lymph node metastases from primary ovarian cancer: a report of two cases and literature review.

Ovarian cancer is usually confined intraperitoneally. Distant metastases at presentation is unusual. Its spread via lymphatics is uncommon, and metastasis to axillary lymph nodes is very rare. We report two cases with presentation of axillary lymphadenopathy without breast involvement. Computed tomography scan identified the ovarian masses. Both had elevated Serum Ca 125. The first case had a Grade 2 ovarian endometrioid carcinoma. The second case had a high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. These cases illustrate the rarity of axillary lymphadenopathy from ovarian cancer. It is important to identify the primary ovarian carcinoma in order to offer appropriate management. Despite surgery and chemotherapy, both succumbed within 3 years from diagnosis.

Haemoblock hemostatic substance in reducing seroma formation post axillary lymph node dissection following breast conserving surgery.

BACKGROUND: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in breast cancer management, necessitates a nuanced understanding of complications that may impede treatment progression. This study scrutinize the impact of Haemoblock hemostatic solution, evaluation it's potential in reducing seroma complication by controlling lymph flow and obliterating axillary dead space. METHOD: A prospective, randomized, double-blinded controlled trial was conducted with 58 patients undergoing breast conserving surgery (BCS) and ALND, stratified into two groups: Group A (ALND + Haemoblock, n = 29) and Group B (ALND + placebo, n = 29). Postoperative drainage charts were monitored, with the primary endpoint being the time to drain removal, Additionally, patients were observed for surgical site infection (SSI). RESULTS: Group A exhibited a marginally higher mean total drain output (398 +/- 205 vs. 326 +/- 198) compared to Group B, this difference did not attain statistical significance (p = 0.176). Equally, the mean time to drain removal demonstrated no discernible distinction between the two groups (6 +/- 3.0 vs. 6 +/- 3.0, Group A vs. Group B, p = 0.526). During follow up, nine patients in Group A required seroma aspiration (mean aspiration 31 +/- 73) as compared to Group B, 6 patients required aspiration (mean aspiration 12 +/- 36), p = 0.222). No notable disparity in SSI rates between the groups was identified. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the administration of Haemoblock did not manifest a discernible effect in mitigating seroma production, hastening drain removal, or influencing SSI rates following ALND. The study underscores the intricate and multifactorial nature of seroma formation, suggesting avenues for future research to explore combined interventions and protracted follow-up periods for a more comprehensive understanding.

The prevalent factors of anxiety in women undergoing mammography.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Malaysia. Anxiety is one factor that deters women from participating in mammography. This study aimed to assess the anxiety level and its associated factors in women undergoing mammography. Methods: A three-month cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires, encompassing socio-demographic details, clinical characteristics, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results: The mean age of the participants was 57 years old (SD ±10.098). Repeat mammograms consisted of 48.8% of the participants. One-third (35.7%) of them had a history of breast disease. Most participants (84.5%) did not have a positive family history of breast cancer. The proportion of participants with moderate and high anxiety levels was 41.8%. The cause of anxiety was mainly due to the fear of the results (69%), while familiarity with the procedure reduced anxiety among respondents. Socio-demographic and clinical factors were not significantly associated with anxiety levels. However, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between state and trait anxiety scores (r = 0.568, p = 0.001, n = 213). Limitations: The urban setting and absence of questions on the location of origin in the study may have excluded data from the rural population. This may have prevented a true representation of the Malaysian population. Conclusion: The findings suggest a better understanding of the procedures involved as well as the subsequent disease management would be beneficial in alleviating anxiety prior to, during, and post-mammogram.

Bilateral metachronous breast malignancies: Malignant phylloides and invasive breast carcinoma-a case report.

A 57-year-old Malay nullipara initially presented with a right breast lump that was increasing in size but defaulted follow-up. Two years later, she developed a contralateral breast lump. She only returned to the hospital when the right breast lump had become painful, 4 years from its onset. The biopsy of the right breast lump was a phylloides tumor and that of the left breast lump was a carcinoma. She had bilateral palpable axillary lymph nodes. She underwent bilateral mastectomy and axillary dissection. The pathology report confirmed the right breast lesion to be a malignant phylloides and the left breast lesion to be a carcinoma (pT3N2). She declined adjuvant treatment. A year after the surgical operation of the metachronous lesions, she had a right chest wall recurrence with widespread pulmonary metastases. She was given palliative chemotherapy but succumbed several months later.

Quality of life of women with breast cancer in a tertiary referral university hospital.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) is one of the treatment outcome measures in patients with breast cancer. In this study, we measured the QoL of women with breast cancer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) and identified the associated factors. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2017 to December 2017 and involved female patients with breast cancer. The QoL scores and domains were determined using the EuroQol EQ-5D-5L, and were presented as the utility value and visual analog scores, respectively. RESULTS: We recruited a total of 173 women, aged 33-87 years. The median VA score was 80.00 (interquartile range [IQR] 70.00-90.00); the median utility value was 0.78 (interquartile range [IQR] 0.65-1.00. Women who did not take traditional medicine had a higher utility index score of 0.092 (95% CI 0.014-0.171), and women with household income of RM3000-5000 had a higher utility index score of 0.096 (95% CI 0.011-0.180). CONCLUSION: Traditional medicine consumption and household income were significantly associated with lower QoL. The pain/discomfort domain was the worst affected QoL domain and was related to traditional medicine use and household income. Addressing pain management in patients with breast cancer and the other factors contributing to lower QoL may improve the QoL of breast cancer survivors in the future.

Influence of cultural practices on breast cancer risks, stage at presentation and outcome in a multi-ethnic developing country.

Malaysia is a developing country made up of three main ethnicities: Malay, Chinese and Indian. There are significant ethnic differences with regard to the type of daily food and cooking methods, contraception, breast-feeding preferences, confinement period and care, postmenopausal intake and influence of the traditional healer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Malaysian women across all three ethnicities. However, the National Cancer Registry and local medical centres have documented ethnic differences in breast cancer risk (Chinese, 40.7 per 100,000; Indian, 38.1 per 100,000; Malay, 31.5 per 100,000), peak age (youngest in the Malays), stage at presentation (largest percentage at advanced stage among the Malays) and survival (poorest survival rate among the Malays). The Malays have several practices that are protective against breast cancer compared with the Chinese. However, the Malays have strong beliefs in the traditional healer, which contribute to the delay in getting treatment, causing a poor outcome and a low survival rate. The highest BRCA1 and 2 genetic mutation incidence is amongst the Chinese, but the Malays have the largest triple-negative breast cancer rates. These factors may also contribute to the statistical breast cancer data.

A qualitative study among breast cancer patients on chemotherapy: experiences and side-effects.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to explore the experiences and side-effects of breast cancer patients on chemotherapy in Malaysia. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Purposive sampling of 36 breast cancer patients who have completed chemotherapy and agreed to participate in semi-structured in-depth interviews. A constant comparative method and thematic analysis were used to analyze the interviews. RESULTS: Data were categorized into six main themes: know nothing of chemotherapy; fear of chemotherapy; patients' beliefs in alternative treatments; symptom management; staying healthy after chemotherapy; and concerns of patients after chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: Despite complaints about the bad experiences of their chemotherapy-induced side-effects, these patients still managed to complete the entire course of chemotherapy. Moreover, there is a need for a clinical pharmacy service in the oncology clinic setting in Malaysia in order to provide relevant information to help patients understand the chemotherapy received.

Treatment decision-making among breast cancer patients in Malaysia.

PURPOSE: This study investigated breast cancer patients' involvement level in the treatment decision-making process and the concordance between patients' and physician's perspectives in decision-making. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving physicians and newly diagnosed breast cancer patients from three public/teaching hospitals in Malaysia. The Control Preference Scale (CPS) was administered to patients and physicians, and the Krantz Health Opinion Survey (KHOS) was completed by the patients alone. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the association between sociodemographic characteristics, the patients' involvement in treatment decision-making, and patients' preference for behavioral involvement and information related to their disease. RESULTS: The majority of patients preferred to share decision-making with their physicians (47.5%), while the second largest group preferred being passive (42.6%) and a small number preferred being active (9.8%). However, the physicians perceived that the majority of patients preferred active decision-making (56.9%), followed by those who desired shared decision-making (32.8%), and those who preferred passive decision-making (10.3%). The overall concordance was 26.5% (54 of 204 patient-physician dyads). The median of preference for information score and behavioral involvement score was 4 (interquartile range [IQR] =3-5) and 2 (IQR =2-3), respectively. In univariate analysis, the ethnicity and educational qualification of patients were significantly associated with the patients' preferred role in the process of treatment decision-making and the patients' preference for information seeking (p>0.05). However, only educational qualification (p=0.004) was significantly associated with patients' preference for information seeking in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Physicians failed to understand patients' perspectives and preferences in treatment decision-making. The concordance between physicians' perception and patients' perception was quite low as the physicians perceived that more than half of the patients were active in treatment decision-making. In actuality, more than half of patients perceived that they shared decision-making with their physicians.

Metaplastic breast carcinoma with upper limb gangrene.

Metaplastic breast carcinomas (MBCs) are rapidly growing tumors with histological heterogeneity, and triple negative receptor status. The aim of this case report is to highlight a case of advanced MBC with axillary artery infiltration leading to gangrene of the ipsilateral upper limb, in a young woman.

Most prevalent unmet supportive care needs and quality of life of breast cancer patients in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Addressing breast cancer patients' unmet supportive care needs in the early stage of their survivorship have become a prime concern because of its significant association with poor quality of life (QOL), which in turn increases healthcare utilization and costs. There is no study about unmet supportive care needs of breast cancer patients in Malaysia. This study aims to assess the most prevalent unmet supportive care needs of Malaysian breast cancer patients and the association between QOL and patients' characteristics, and their unmet supportive care needs. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Surgery and Oncology Clinic between May 2014 and June 2014 in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. A total of 117 patients out of 133 breast cancer patients recruited by universal sampling were interviewed using a structured questionnaire consisted of three parts: participants' socio-demographic and disease characteristics, Supportive Care Needs Survey-Short Form Questionnaire (SCNS-SF34) and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). RESULTS: The highest unmet supportive care needs were observed in the psychological domain (Mean 53.31; SD ± 21.79), followed by physical domain (Mean 38.16; SD ± 27.15). Most prevalent unmet supportive care needs were uncertainty about the future (78.6 %), fears about the cancer spreading (76.1 %), feelings of sadness (69.2 %), feelings about death and dying (68.4 %), concerns about those close to the patient (65.0 %) and feeling down or depressed (65.0 %). Multivariate linear analysis showed that early breast cancer survivors diagnosed at an advanced stage and with greater physical and psychological needs were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with poorer QOL. CONCLUSION: Most prevalent unmet needs among Malaysian breast cancer patients were found in the psychological domain. Early breast cancer survivors with late stage diagnosis who had more unmet needs in psychological and physical domains were more likely to have a poor QOL.

Exploring breast carcinogenesis through integrative genomics and epigenomics analyses.

There have been many DNA methylation studies on breast cancer which showed various methylation patterns involving tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes but only a few of those studies link the methylation data with gene expression. More data are required especially from the Asian region and to analyse how the epigenome data correlate with the transcriptome. DNA methylation profiling was carried out on 76 fresh frozen primary breast tumour tissues and 25 adjacent non-cancerous breast tissues using the Illumina Infinium(®) HumanMethylation27 BeadChip. Validation of methylation results was performed on 7 genes using either MS-MLPA or MS-qPCR. Gene expression profiling was done on 15 breast tumours and 5 adjacent non-cancerous breast tissues using the Affymetrix GeneChip(®) Human Gene 1.0 ST array. The overlapping genes between DNA methylation and gene expression datasets were further mapped to the KEGG database to identify the molecular pathways that linked these genes together. Supervised hierarchical cluster analysis revealed 1,389 hypermethylated CpG sites and 22 hypomethylated CpG sites in cancer compared to the normal samples. Gene expression microarray analysis using a fold-change of at least 1.5 and a false discovery rate (FDR) at p>0.05 identified 404 upregulated and 463 downregulated genes in cancer samples. Integration of both datasets identified 51 genes with hypermethylation with low expression (negative association) and 13 genes with hypermethylation with high expression (positive association). Most of the overlapping genes belong to the focal adhesion and extracellular matrix-receptor interaction that play important roles in breast carcinogenesis. The present study displayed the value of using multiple datasets in the same set of tissues and how the integrative analysis can create a list of well-focused genes as well as to show the correlation between epigenetic changes and gene expression. These gene signatures can help us understand the epigenetic regulation of gene expression and could be potential targets for therapeutic intervention in the future.

Skeletal-related events among breast and prostate cancer patients: towards new treatment initiation in Malaysia's hospital setting.

The human skeleton is the most common organ to be affected by metastatic cancer and bone metastases are a major cause of cancer morbidity. The five most frequent cancers in Malaysia among males includes prostate whereas breast cancer is among those in females, both being associated with skeletal lesions. Bone metastases weaken bone structure, causing a range of symptoms and complications thus developing skeletal-related events (SRE). Patients with SRE may require palliative radiotherapy or surgery to bone for pain, having hypercalcaemia, pathologic fractures, and spinal cord compression. These complications contribute to a decline in patient health- related quality of life. The multidimensional assessment of health-related quality of life for those patients is important other than considering a beneficial treatment impact on patient survival, since the side effects of treatment and disease symptoms can significantly impact health-related quality of life. Cancer treatment could contribute to significant financial implications for the healthcare system. Therefore, it is essential to assess the health-related quality of life and treatment cost, among prostate and breast cancer patients in countries like Malaysia to rationalized cost-effective way for budget allocation or utilization of health care resources, hence helping in providing more personalized treatment for cancer patients.

Quantification of Her-2/Neu gene in breast cancer patients using real time-polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) and correlation with immunohistochemistry findings.

BACKGROUND: HER-2/neu is a proto-oncogene that encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase growth factor which is crucial for stimulating growth and cellular motility. Overexpression of HER-2/neu is observed in 10-35% of human breast cancers and is associated with pathogenesis, prognosis as well as response to therapy. Given the imperative role of HER-2/neu overexpression in breast cancer, it is important to determine the magnitude of amplification which may facilitate a better prognosis as well as personalized therapy in affected patients. In this study, we determined HER-2/neu protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) concurrently with HER-2/neu DNA amplification by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 53 paired tissue samples from breast cancer patients were frozen-sectioned to characterize the tumour and normal tissues. Only tissues with 80% tumour cells were used in this study. For confirmation, Q-PCR was used to determine the HER-2/neu DNA amplification. RESULTS: We found 20/53 (37.7%) of the tumour tissues to be positive for HER-2/neu protein overexpression using IHC. Out of these twenty, only 9/53 (17%) cases were in agreement with the Q-PCR results. The concordance rate between IHC and Q-PCR was 79.3%. Approximately 20.7% of positive IHC cases showed no HER-2/neu gene amplification using Q-PCR. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, IHC can be used as an initial screening method for detection of the HER-2/neu protein overexpression. Techniques such as Q-PCR should be employed to verify the IHC results for uncertain cases as well as determination of HER-2/neu gene amplification.

Gene expression patterns distinguish breast carcinomas from normal breast tissues: the Malaysian context.

Genomic and transcriptomic alterations that affect cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and invasion, commonly occur in breast oncogenesis. Epidemiological evidence has proven that the risk of breast cancer predisposition varies among different ethnicities. This study aims to identify the transcriptome changes that commonly occur during the transition of normal breast epithelium to carcinoma in three local ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese and Indians). The gene expression patterns of 43 breast carcinomas with 43 patient-matched normal breast tissues were investigated using Affymetrix U133A GeneChip (containing 22,283 probe sets targeting approximately 18,400 different transcripts) and analyzed with GeneSpring GX10. Our findings revealed a total of 33 significantly differentially expressed genes, which showed>2-fold change at a 99.9% confidence interval level (p<0.001). The significantly differentially expressed genes included CD24, CD36, CD9, TACSTD1, TACSTD2, HBB, LEP, LPL, AKR1C1, AKR1C2 and AKR1C3. Our results indicate that the vast majority of gene expression changes, from normal breast epithelial to carcinoma, found in our three major ethnic populations are similar to those in the Caucasian population. Further study of the differentially expressed genes identified in our present study is needed to search for potential breast tumor biomarkers. This will eventually help to improve the therapeutic and treatment strategies for breast cancer patients in the future.

Expression and mutational analysis of GATA3 in Malaysian breast carcinomas.

The GATA3 gene is a potential tumour marker and putative tumour suppressor gene in breast cancer. Its expression is associated with better prognosis and disease free survival in breast cancer patients. We aimed to evaluate GATA3 transcriptome expression and mutation in breast carcinomas and correlate its expression with oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), lymph node (LN) status, tumour grade and c-erbB-2 expression. Twenty-two breast infiltrating ductal carcinomas and paired normal tissues were used in Branch DNA assay to detect GATA3 mRNA expression. Normalized data for GATA3 mRNA expression were grouped according to the ER, PR and LN status, tumour grade and c-erbB-2 expression of the tumours. Statistical significance was tested using t-test and ANOVA at 95% confidence interval level. Mutational analysis of GATA3 was performed by direct sequencing of the coding regions of GATA3 mRNA. Our findings showed that GATA3 gene were over-expressed and under-expressed by > 2 fold change in 12 and 4 tested samples, respectively. Eighty per cent of ER positive breast carcinomas were GATA3 positive. There was a statistically significant correlation between GATA3 expression and ER at 95% confidence interval level between the study groups. On the contrary, GATA3 expression was not statistically significant with PR, LN, tumour grade and c-erbB-2 expression in our study. In addition, we observed that there was no mutation in mRNA coding region in 16 breast carcinomas that showed GATA3 differential gene expression. Our preliminary results suggested that GATA3 is linked to the ER. This scenario suggests that GATA3 may play a crucial role in oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients. Whether GATA3 expression is involved in regulating tumour cell growth in oestrogen responsive breast cancer is a key question that remains to be answered.

Aspiration of breast abscess under ultrasound guidance: outcome obtained and factors affecting success.

OBJECTIVE: To assess ultrasonographically (US) guided needle aspiration of breast abscesses as an alternative to surgical incision and drainage. METHODS: In our prospective study, 30 patients with 31 breast abscesses (one patient had bilateral breast abscess) underwent percutaneous breast abscess drainage under US guidance with local anaesthesia and oral antibiotics between 1 January 2004 and 31 March 2005. These patients consisted of 16 (53.3%) non-lactating and 14 (46.7%) lactating women, with ages ranging from 18 to 68 years (median, 28 years). The racial distribution comprised 26 (86.7%) Malays, three (10%) Chinese and one (3.3%) Indian. All patients had the chief complaint of breast swelling and 25 (83.3%) had breast pain. Clinically, 28 (93.3%) were found to have a palpable mass. Nine (30%) lesions were in the upper outer quadrant of the left breast. US diameters ranged from 1 to 15 cm (median, 4 cm). The pus volumes varied from 1 to 200 mL (median, 14 mL). RESULTS: Fifteen (50%) patients required only a single aspiration, 10 required multiple aspirations and five required incision and drainage. Those patients in whom needle aspiration failed had multiloculated lesions irrespective of abscess volume and size. CONCLUSION: Needle aspiration with ultrasound guidance is an effective treatment for breast abscess irrespective of abscess volume and size.