Abstract
The patient was a 44-year-old woman. At the age of twelve, she had been diagnosed as having von Recklinghausen's disease associated with scoliosis. Since then, she had a long history of X-ray exposure for the scoliosis. In April 2012, she noticed a left breast tumor with bloody discharge. Computed tomography demonstrated a breast tumor, 6 cm in diameter, and enlarged ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes.
Core needle biopsy revealed invasive ductal carcinoma with ER (-), PgR (+), HER2 (1+). After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, modified radical mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection (Bt+Ax) was performed. On pathological examination, the tumor was classified as pT4c, pN0, M0, stage IIIB, Grade 1b.
Reports of breast cancer supervening on von Recklinghausen's disease are increasing. It is well known that nearly 10% of von Recklinghausen's disease cases are associated with scoliosis. As in our case, patients with von Recklinghausen's disease associated with scoliosis show an elevated risk of developing breast cancer due to frequent X-ray exposure. We report a case of breast cancer supervening on von Recklinghausen's disease, and also discuss the potential risk of developing breast cancer from X-ray exposure.
