Reviews & Analysis

This Case Study describes a patient with metastatic typical carcinoid of the lung who had not responded to initial therapy with a somatostatin analog and chemotherapy (cisplatin and etoposide). She achieved an impressive and long-lasting response to the combination of capecitabine and lyposomal doxorubicin, without reporting any severe adverse effects. The authors discuss the diagnosis, examine differential diagnosis and briefly review the available treatment options in this setting.

This case study discusses a patient initially diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer who underwent androgen deprivation therapy. The patient subsequently presented with ductal carcinomain situ and was found to be a BRCA2mutation carrier with a strong family history of breast cancer.

This case study discusses two patients with locally advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. The authors describe how neoadjuvant polychemotherapy was used to treat these patients allowing curative-intent surgery plus radiotherapy.

Lasting complete remission from widespread bone metastases is rare. The case of a 41-year-old premenopausal woman diagnosed with right-sided infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma andBRCA2mutation is described. She received high-dose anthracycline-based induction chemotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation with high-dose alkylator and platin-based conditioning regimens. The authors comment on the reasons for this unusual and sustained complete remission from widely metastatic breast cancer and the patient-specific factors that may have contributed to this outcome.

The authors present a case of a 48-year-old man with a history of diarrhea, flushing and upper abdominal pain who was subsequently diagnosed with metastatic carcinoid tumor. The authors discuss the importance of a stepwise approach in a multi-disciplinary team setting to provide effective patient care.

Breast cancer during pregnancy is increasingly being encountered, and establishing the safety of trastuzumab in this setting is important. The case of a 29-year-old woman diagnosed with node-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer is described. She underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy and then received trastuzumab. The authors suggest that short-term trastuzumab exposure may be safe and they recommend careful monitoring of the amniotic fluid and cardiac assessment of the mother and fetus.

MSH2mutations are associated with the development of colorectal cancer and are a common cause of Lynch syndrome. Jeans et al. describe the case of a 37-year-old woman with a germline MSH2mutation who developed rectal adenocarcinoma and 7 years later presented with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor. The authors suggest that diagnosis of Lynch syndrome should be considered in cases where individuals with previous malignancies associated with this syndrome present with cerebral tumors.

Resistance to chemotherapy remains one of the major challenges in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma. Chim et al. report the case of a 59-year-old woman with multiple myeloma, who progressed after treatment with conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Addition of bortezomib to her treatment regimen resulted in complete regression of her disease. The authors suggest that bortezomib can restore chemosensitivity of myeloma cells in heavily pretreated, chemorefractory patients with multiple myeloma.

Women with cancer treated with radiotherapy who become pregnant have an increased risk of poor fetal outcome. The case of a 27-year-old woman who became pregnant while receiving radiotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma and gave birth to a healthy infant is described. The authors suggest that careful evaluation of fetal exposure to radiation should be performed in each individual case to allow pregnant patients to decide on the fate of their pregnancy.