Breast cancer treated separately from concurrent diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Subtype
- Invasive Ductal Carcinoma
- Biomarkers
- ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-positive
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- surgery
Treatment course, step by step
- After treatment was prioritized for her separate lymphoma, she underwent left mastectomy for the breast cancer in October 2022.
What happened, in summary
A 54-year-old woman noticed a painless enlarging mass in her neck. Imaging showed an abnormal area in the left breast together with enlarged lymph nodes in several parts of the body. At first, the widespread lymph-node disease looked like metastatic breast cancer.
Biopsies showed that she actually had two separate cancers. The breast lesion was invasive ductal carcinoma that was ER-positive, PR-positive, and HER2-positive. The enlarged lymph nodes were caused by diffuse large B-cell lymphoma rather than spread of the breast cancer.
Because the lymphoma was the more urgent disease, treatment initially focused on the lymphoma. After completing the first phase of lymphoma treatment, she underwent a left mastectomy in October 2022. Pathology confirmed an approximately 2 cm invasive ductal breast tumor.
Follow-up showed no local recurrence of the breast cancer. Her lymphoma later relapsed and required several additional treatments, while follow-up continued to show no local recurrence of the breast cancer.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by PMC / PubMed Central. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
Collections this story belongs to
- ER Positive Breast Cancer 242 stories
- Mastectomy for ER Positive Breast Cancer 141 stories
- Mastectomy for Breast Cancer 624 stories
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer