Persistent fever leads to the diagnosis of gastric adenosquamous carcinoma in a 73-year-old man

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 70+

At nearly 20 months after surgery, CT follow-up showed no recurrence and he was in good health.

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Synchronous Stage IA breast cancer and Stage IIA lung adenocarcinoma: disease-free after surgery and adjuvant therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage I

Biomarkers: Breast tumor: ER/PR positive, HER2 negative. Lung tumor: KRAS/EGFR wild type, ALK rearrangement not detected.

As of April 2014, more than 2 years of follow-up showed no recurrent disease after treatment of synchronous Stage IA breast cancer and Stage IIA lung adenocarcinoma.

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EGFR exon 19 lung adenocarcinoma with bone and brain metastases: brain lesions resolved on gefitinib

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: EGFR exon 19 deletion

Metastatic Site: lumbar spine, pelvic bone, brain (left occipital lobe,…

As of March 2014, asymptomatic brain metastases had regressed after 1 month of gefitinib and were no longer discernible after another 3 months, while lumbar vertebral disease was treated with radiotherapy.

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Stage IIIB lung adenocarcinoma with separate papillary renal cell carcinoma: doing well more than 6 years after revised diagnosis

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s | Stage III

Biomarkers: Lung tumor: TTF-1-positive; PET-avid. Kidney lesion: PET-negative; later papillary renal cell carcinoma. No lung molecular biomarkers reported.

As of February 2014, she was doing well more than 6 years after the initial diagnosis, after the diagnosis was revised from presumed Stage IV lung cancer to Stage IIIB lung adenocarcinoma plus a separate papillary renal cell carcinoma.

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Gastric Cancer: Sara's Patient Story

Patient Info: Sara Souto Strom, Female

After treatment, Sara returned to an active life and continued her work as a cancer researcher.

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Ovarian Granulosa Cell Tumor Spreads to the Spine and Kidney

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 40s | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: spine, kidney

Years after the original ovarian tumor, metastatic granulosa cell tumor was confirmed in the L1 vertebra and later in the left kidney.

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Stage IIIA NSCLC with superior vena cava tumor thrombus: complete response to radiation and erlotinib

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage III

Biomarkers: EGFR protein expression positive; EGFR gene mutation not tested because tumor sample was inadequate

Radiation plus erlotinib led to complete response of the primary lung tumor at 6 months, disappearance of the SVC thrombosis at 9 months, and no progression during 45 months of close follow-up on maintenance erlotinib.

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Stage IV ER/PR-positive mucinous breast cancer: long-term no evidence of disease after surgery, AFTV, radiation, CEF, and endocrine therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-positive; delayed-type hypersensitivity to AFTV became pseudo-positive after vaccination and remained pseudo-positive 5.4 years later

Metastatic Site: Th7 vertebra

More than 6 years after primary surgery, she remained well with no evidence of vertebral metastasis activity, new metastasis, or local recurrence.

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Stage IIIA squamous lung cancer with later kidney and paraaortic lymph node metastases

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: Squamous lung cancer markers supported the diagnosis; TTF-1, CK7 and CK20 were not seen; Ki-67 >10%.

Metastatic Site: left renal parenchyma, paraaortic lymph nodes

After surgery, 4 cycles of cisplatin plus vinblastine, and mediastinal radiotherapy, she had a 10-month disease-free interval before biopsy-confirmed metastatic squamous lung carcinoma appeared in the left kidney with paraaortic lymph node enlargement.

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Ovarian Cancer That Spread to the Cerebellum 10 Years Later

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, Under 40 | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: right cerebellum

After removal of the cerebellar metastasis, her headache and vertigo improved and she subsequently received whole-brain radiation.

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Sigmoid colon cancer: complete response after repeated metastatic recurrences and multimodal therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: KRAS/NRAS/BRAF status not reported; CEA elevation used for recurrence monitoring

Metastatic Site: left lung, mediastinal lymph nodes, left adrenal…

By 2011, all metastatic lesions had achieved complete response; nearly 1 year after the last adrenal irradiation, no recurrence had been detected.

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Metastatic lobular breast cancer to gynecologic sites: disease-free after surgery and chemotherapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-negative; HER2/C-Erb-B2-negative

Metastatic Site: vagina, uterus, ovaries

After treatment of vaginal, uterine, and ovarian metastases from lobular breast cancer, she was free from disease 12 months after completion surgery.

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Hormone-positive breast cancer with axillary recurrence responding to hyperthermia, radiation, and chemotherapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s

Biomarkers: ER-positive; PR-positive; HER2-negative

The left axillary recurrence enlarged during weekly paclitaxel and radiotherapy, then became nearly flat and was assessed as a complete response 8 weeks after adding hyperthermia.

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Papillary Thyroid-Type Cancer Arising in Struma Ovarii

Patient Info: Anonymized, female, 40s

Six months after surgery, imaging showed no recurrence or metastasis and thyroglobulin was undetectable, supporting remission.

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Stage IV EBV-positive lymphoepithelioma-like lung cancer with brain metastasis

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: EBV-positive by in-situ hybridization

Metastatic Site: brain, retroperitoneal/posterior mediastinal soft…

Remained well and disease-free 6 months after resection of the retroperitoneal/posterior mediastinal metastasis and 8 years after initial presentation.

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Stage IIIA pleomorphic lung cancer treated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, Under 40 | Stage III

Alive 14 months after surgery without evidence of tumor recurrence after complete resection, adjuvant chemotherapy, oral S-1, and radiation.

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Stage IV lung squamous cell carcinoma with liver metastasis treated with chemotherapy and 90Y radioembolization

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: liver

After treatment for liver metastasis, PET CT 2 months after 90Y radioembolization showed complete tumor response without residual tumor, and she was alive without active disease.

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Stage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Bridgette's Survivor Story

Patient Info: Bridgette, Female, 60s | Stage III

Biomarkers: Triple-negative breast cancer

Bridgette completed treatment and described herself as being in remission and free of cancer. Fear of recurrence continued to affect her survivorship.

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Metastatic lobular breast cancer to bladder trigone: partial response to tamoxifen

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: progesterone receptor-positive; genetic testing including BRCA1 negative

Metastatic Site: bladder trigone

As of January 2012, urge incontinence had resolved and PET showed decreased activity in the breast and bladder trigone lesions nearly 10 months after starting tamoxifen, consistent with clinical and partial radiologic remission.

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Gastric adenocarcinoma first presents with painful eye and orbital metastases

Patient Info: Anonymized, Male, 60s | Stage IV

Metastatic Site: left uvea, orbit, sclera, optic nerve

He died 6 months later after treatment for metastatic gastric cancer.

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Right breast ductal carcinoma with unusual sentinel-node drainage treated with lumpectomy and adjuvant therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s

After lumpectomy, negative sentinel lymph node evaluation across 3 drainage territories, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy, she remained free of disease 2 years and 6 months after surgery.

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Triple-negative glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: chemotherapy, mastectomy, and radiation

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 50s | Stage III

Biomarkers: Triple-negative breast cancer with glycogen-rich clear cell features; pathology stains supported breast carcinoma.

Asymptomatic and disease-free 14 months after surgery, additional chemotherapy, and 50 Gy radiotherapy for T4N0M0 triple-negative glycogen-rich clear cell breast carcinoma.

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Lobular breast cancer with extraocular muscle and lung metastases: ocular improvement after radiotherapy and tamoxifen

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 60s | Stage IV

Biomarkers: Original breast cancer: ER-negative; PR-negative. Extraocular muscle metastasis/recurrent disease: ER strongly positive; PR strongly positive.

Metastatic Site: bilateral extraocular muscles, right upper lobe lung,…

At 18 months after presentation with extraocular muscle metastases, PET showed no abnormality, diplopia had resolved, and ocular motility had markedly improved, with mild bilateral ptosis remaining.

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ER-positive breast cancer recurrence after DCIS: chemotherapy, nodal surgery, radiation, and endocrine therapy

Patient Info: Anonymized, Female, 40s

Biomarkers: Recurrent invasive breast cancer: ER-positive; HER2/neu-negative. PR not reported.

Disease-free for 33 months after treatment of ER-positive, HER2-negative invasive breast cancer recurring in the mastectomy skin flap with positive axillary sentinel nodes.

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