Clinical significance of the sub-classification of 71 cases mucinous breast carcinoma

OBJECTIVE Mucinous breast carcinoma (MBC) is classified into mixed mucinous breast carcinoma (MMBC) and pure mucinous breast carcinoma (PMBC) based on whether the tumor is with or without a component of invasive ductal carcinoma, respectively. PMBC is subtyped into hypocellular PMBC (PMBC-A) and hypercellular PMBC (PMBC-B). METHODS Of 1,760 primary breast carcinomas, 71 were diagnosed as MBC, and were subtyped for comparison purposes. RESULTS Seventy-one of all breast cancers (4.0%) were MBC, and consisted of 23 MMBC, 32 PMBC-A and 16 PMBC-B. The MBC tumors were more often hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative than non-MBC tumors. Patients with MMBC, PMBC-B or PMBC-A, in this order, had significantly higher recurrence rates than non-MBC cases (p=0.006, log-rank). CONCLUSIONS In the NCCN guidelines, MBC is also regarded as "a histological type with a favorable prognosis" in a uniform manner, and "treatment for a histological type with a favorable prognosis" is recommended. However, the results of this study suggest that sub-classification-based, individualized therapeutic strategies should be considered.