Abstract
This case deals with a 59-year-old female who developed a right breast lump, cough and dyspnea. The right breast showed an irregular mass with redness and edema of the skin. It was diagnosed as an invasive ductal carcinoma (scirrhous carcinoma), ER : >=90%, PgR : 20%, HER2 (1+), Ki-67 : 30% on needle biopsy. Blood testing revealed anemia and thrombocytopenia (Hb 8.7 g/dl, PLT 5×104/μl). On computed tomography (CT) a rib, a vertebral body and the pelvis had multiple bone metastases ; both lungs had multiple metastases. Clumping of cells with an irregular nucleus was seen on bone marrow biopsy ; this was thought to be bone marrow metastasis related to breast cancer. Weekly paclitaxel administration was given ; there were no adverse events such as myelosuppression, and treatment could be continued. The patient's anemia and thrombocytopenia improved after the 5th course ; on CT, the tumor in the right breast and the lymph node metastases in the right axilla and the multiple metastases in the lung were found to be remarkably smaller. We report our treatment of this patient. Weekly paclitaxel was effective for treating bone marrow breast cancer metastasis that had caused anemia and thrombocytopenia.
