Metastasized Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Lung from Right Breast, tripe negative...

My mother, mother of two, with no family history, postmenopausal, 60 year old working lady discovered a lump on her right breast in October 2009. She underwent BCS at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Calcutta, India on 9th December, 2010. Histology revealed grade II squamous cell carcinoma, 3/49 nodes positive, 3.5 cm tumor size, triple negative,T2N1M0.

She was seen at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India and was advised adjuvant chemotherapy with FEC90 # 4 followed by Paclitaxel / Carboplatin # 4 followed by adjuvant radiation to the breast (31 sittings).

Unfortunately she has now developed multiple lung metastasis, the histology being metastatic squamous cell carcinoma, triple negative. She has now been put on systemic chemotherapy with Taxotere / Xeloda.

Doctors’ reports state that hers is an Anthracyclin and Taxane resistant disease.

Is the treatment she is going through now the best advisable?

We have been told that squamous cell carcinoma of the breast being a very rare phenomena has no documented cases and thus no reference. What are the chances of survival in my mother’s case and would you advise any other treatment?

[bluebutterfly2222]

I am sorry that you have not yet received any replies.

This is most likely due to the fact that questions in this forum are answered by survivors and other volunteers generally not identified as professionals, so we cannot make specific tx recommendations. Your mother would do best by discussing her options with her oncologist, who knows all the aspects of her case and health history, or getting a 2nd opinion if she has doubts about her current tx approach..

On a more general level, you are correct that we have much less information about metaplastic breast cancer (another name for squamous cell BC) because it is so much less common. Metaplastic breast cancer starts in the cells that support the breast tissue, rather than in the glandular breast tissue itself, and it behaves very differently. The treatment recommendations are based primarily on stage, because there haven't been any clinical trials specifically in women with metaplastic disease. Metaplastic disease is sometimes less sensitive to commonly used breast cancer therapies, but may be more sensitive to chemotherapies that are more commonly used for lung cancer or other cancers that have a similar squamous cell appearance. Unfortunately with more rare tumors, it's always difficult to do focused studies to be able to provide patients with clear information to guide their decisions.

Here are links to two separate case reports  and reviews of the literature:

http://www.turkjcancer.org/pdf/pdf_TJC_464.pdf

http://www.ispub.com/journal/the_internet_journal_of_oncology/volume_7_number_1_38/article/squamous-cell-carcinoma-of-the-breast-a-case-report-and-literature-review.html

I hope they will somewhat informative.

Best wishes to both you and your mother...