Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MpBC) is a rare disease entity, accounting for less than 1% of all breast carcinomas. Furthermore, it is a heterogenous disease with different subgroups, including malignant epithelial (carcinoma) and stromal ( Median 3 year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in this patients cohort were 33% and 56%, respectively. In conclusion, MpBC is a rare and orphan disease without standardized treatment approaches and the prognosis is poor so that larger studies to investigate different treatment schedules are urgently needed.

The aim of this retrospective, multicenter study was to evaluate clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of teenage and adult patients with high-grade osteosarcoma. A total of 240 osteosarcoma patients who were diagnosed and treated from March 1995 to September 2011 were analyzed. Median age was 20 years (range 13-74 years), and 153 patients (63.8%) were male. Primary tumor localization was extremity in 204 patients (85.4 %), trunk in 21 patients (8.8%) and head and neck region in 14 patients (5.9%). According to American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system, 186 patients (77.5%) were stage II, 3 (1.3%) were stage III and 48 (20.0%) were stage IV. Median overall survival (OS) was 55 months (95 % CI 36.8-73.1 months). OS after 2, 5 and 10 years were 67, 49 and 42%, respectively. Univariable analysis for OS showed that male gender (p = 0.032), high baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level (p < 0.001), high baseline serum alkaline phosphatase level (p = 0.002), telangiectatic subtype (p = 0.023), presence of metastasis at diagnosis (p < 0.001), presence of tumor positive margins after primary surgery (p = 0.015), poor pathological response to preoperative chemotherapy (p = 0.006) and presence of recurrent disease during follow-up period (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with poor survival. Patients who received postoperative methotrexate plus doxorubicin plus cisplatin (M + A + P) combination regimen (p = 0.019), underwent surgery for recurrent disease (p < 0.001) and received chemotherapy for recurrent disease (p < 0.001) had longer OS. In multivariable analysis for OS, only high LDH level (p = 0.002) and the presence of metastasis at diagnosis (p = 0.011) were associated with poor OS, whereas the patients who received chemotherapy for recurrent disease had a longer OS (p = 0.009).

Skeletal-related events (SREs) for nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with bone metastasis lead to serious morbidity. The aim of this study was to determine risk factors for SREs in NSCLC patients with bone metastasis and the factors influencing SRE-free survival and overall survival (OS). From 2000 to 2012, we evaluated retrospectively 835 NSCLC patients. Three hundred and thirty-five of them with bone metastasis were included in the study. SREs and the other prognostic factors were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis for SRE-free survival and OS. SREs were detected in 244 patients (72.8 %). The most common SREs were the need for radiotherapy (43.2 %) and malignant hypercalcemia (17.6 %). The median time to first SRE was 3.5 months at the median follow-up of 17 months. A multivariate analysis showed that the presence of bone metastasis at diagnosis (p < 0.001), the number of bone metastasis (p = 0.001), baseline hypercalcemia (p = 0.004), and the presence of palliative radiotherapy (p = 0.04) were independent prognostic factors for SRE-free survival. A logistic regression analysis identified that the presence of bone metastasis at diagnosis [odds ratio (OR), 12.6], number of bone metastasis (OR, 3.05), and baseline hypercalcemia (OR, 0.33) were found to be predictive factors in the developing of SRE. The median OS time for patients with SRE was worse than that for patients without SRE (7 vs 12 months, respectively). For OS, male gender, ECOG performance status (PS), high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, hypoalbuminemia, the presence of bone metastasis at diagnosis, the number of bone metastasis, the presence of SREs, the presence of bisphosphonate therapy, and palliative radiotherapy were independent prognostic indicators for OS by the multivariate analysis. Our results indicated that the frequency of SREs was high and the presence of bone metastasis at the time of diagnosis, baseline hypercalcemia, and multiple bone metastases were significant factors predicting the occurrence of SREs. If bone metastases diagnose earlier, treatments for the prevention of SREs may be initiated earlier; thus, the deterioration of quality of life may be preserved.

Osteosarcomas with lung metastases are rather heterogenous group. We aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of osteosarcoma patients with lung metastases and to compare the synchronous and metachronous lung metastatic groups. A total of 93 adolescent and adult patients with lung metastatic osteosarcoma, from March 1995 to July 2011, in a single center, were included. Sixty-five patients (69.9%) were male. The median age was 19 years (range, 14–74). Thirty-nine patients (41.9%) had synchronous lung metastases (Group A) and 54 patients (58.1%) had metachronous lung metastases (Group B). The 5-year and 10-year post-lung metastases overall survival (PLM-OS) was 17% and 15%, respectively. In multivariate analysis for PLM-OS, time to lung metastases (p = 0.010), number of metastatic pulmonary nodules (p = 0.020), presence of pulmonary metastasectomy (p = 0.007) and presence of chemotherapy for lung metastases (p< 0.001) were found to be independent prognostic factors. The median PLM-OS of Group A and Group B was 16 months and 9 months, respectively. In Group B, the median PLM-OS of the patients who developed lung metastases within 12 months was 6 months, whereas that of the patients who developed lung metastases later was 16 months. Time to lung metastases, number and laterality of metastatic pulmonary nodules, chemotherapy for lung metastatic disease and pulmonary metastasectomy were independent prognostic factors for patients with lung metastatic osteosarcoma. The best PLM-OS was in the subgroup of patients treated both surgery and chemotherapy. The prognosis of the patients who developed lung metastases within 12 months after diagnosis was worst.

Although this retrospective multicenter study had several limitations, the results suggest that undergoing lapatinib plus capecitabine therapy after the diagnosis of brain metastasis may further improve survival compared to undergoing only trastuzumab-based therapy.