Aim. To reveal current problems and challenges faced by our gynecologic services department in managing patients with hereditary cancers. Methods. We collected clinical data of patients with hereditary cancers, identified via genetic testing (or clinically diagnosed in cases of Cowden syndrome or Peutz–Jeghers syndrome), and treated in our gynecological department from 2012 to 2018. Results. Fifteen patients had hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), 6 had Lynch syndrome, 2 had Cowden syndrome, and 2 had Peutz–Jeghers syndrome. Five patients diagnosed with HBOC were younger than 40 years at diagnosis. Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) was performed on 1 patient with a BRCA1 mutation at age 38 years. Seven patients overall underwent RRSO, and none had malignancies on pathological examinations. Peritoneal washing cytology (PWC) was suspicious for malignancy in one patient; however, subsequent PWC at 6 months after RRSO was negative. A patient with endometrial cancer and Lynch syndrome and a patient with atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) and Cowden syndrome strongly desired fertility preservation. They achieved remission after medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment and multiple dilations and curettages, respectively. One patient with Lynch syndrome developed AEH after 11 years of surveillance. Laparotomy revealed adjacent low-grade and high-grade serous ovarian cancer with positive ascites cytology. She had no recurrence during 7-year follow-up after laparotomy. Conclusion. Managing patients with hereditary cancer, positive or false-positive ascites cytology discovered during RRSO, and desired preservation of fertility is highly challenging.
A 48-year-old woman underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy after preoperative diagnosis of multiple uterine leiomyomas. The histopathological diagnosis was leiomyosarcoma (LMS). After 47 months, multiple lung metastases were detected and resected. The patient was also diagnosed with pelvic bone metastasis and received six cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus docetaxel and local radiation therapy to control the pain. Seventy-seven months from the initial diagnosis, she had a headache and developed left hemiparesis and aphasia. Imaging studies detected a solitary brain metastasis in the right frontal lobe. The patient underwent a craniotomy and resection of the lesion, which was a confirmed metastasis from uterine LMS by histopathology. One month after the craniotomy, the patient experienced lower abdominal pain, and a pelvic metastasis was detected. She was prescribed oral pazopanib (800 mg per day). For twelve months, she remained asymptomatic, but gradually, pelvic pain increased due to pelvic mass growth. After 14 months of pazopanib treatment, pazopanib was discontinued. To date, for 18 months after the brain surgery, she is alive with disease, and the brain metastasis has not recurred.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.