Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in western countries. Radiotherapy remains the mainstay of postoperative management, but accumulating data show that adjuvant chemotherapy may display promising results after staging surgery. The prognosis of patients with metastatic disease remains disappointing with only one-year survival. Progestins represent an effective option, especially for those patients with low-grade estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive disease. Chemotherapy using the combination of paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and cisplatin is beneficial for patients with advanced or metastatic disease after staging surgery and potentially for patients with early-stage disease and high-risk factors. Toxicity is a point in question; however, the combination of paclitaxel with carboplatin may diminish these concerns. In women with multiple medical comorbidities, single-agent chemotherapy may be better tolerated with acceptable results. Our increased knowledge of the molecular aspects of endometrial cancer biology has paved the way for clinical research to develop novel targeted antineoplastic agents (everolimus, temsirolimus, gefitinib, erlotinib, cetuximab, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, sorafenib) as more effective and less toxic options. Continued investigation into the molecular pathways of endometrial cancer development and progression will increase our knowledge of this disease leading to the discovery of novel, superior agents.
Background: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) of the breast is one of the less recognized variants of this vasculitis and may represent an isolated finding or a manifestation of a more widespread disease. Case Report: We present the case of a 74-year-old woman with malaise and a 14-day persistent fever, reaching 38°C. There was a bilateral, painless and mobile axillary lymphadenopathy and a slight tenderness over the medial and lateral upper quadrants of her left breast, as well as an independent palpable tender mass in the upper outer quadrant of the same breast measuring 2 cm in its greatest diameter. Constitutional symptoms, anemia and an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate suggestive of polymyalgia rheumatica were also present. An invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast with coincidental pathologic findings of GCA in the same biopsy specimen was revealed. In this case, arteritis was limited to the breast and presented with diffuse breast tenderness. No other artery was involved by GCA. All arteritis-related symptoms disappeared after the removal of the tumor. Conclusions: There is a relationship between cancer, particularly breast cancer, and GCA of the same organ, but the real nature of this association still remains unknown.
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