Cancer Of The Breast; Recurrence Thirty-one Years After Operation
British Medical Journal 1: Jan 24 1925; 156
View Original Source →Abstract
The case of an 81-year-old woman is reported in which secondary growths occured thirty-one years after an operation for breast cancer. There can be little doubt that the subcutaneous nodules and the mediastinal growth were directly connected with the original growth in the breast, and, if this is so, it would appear that carcinoma cells may lay dormant in the tissues for a period of upwards of thirty years, and for all this time give no sign, and then simultaneously, in at least four separate and distinct sites, once more become active. The author states, “I make no apology for publishing a note of this case owing to its outstanding interest in its bearing on the age-long question, When is cancer cured?”
Case Details
Personal Characteristics
81-year-old woman, operated upon for cancer of the left breast thirty-one years ago
Clinical Characteristics
Secondary growths occured thirty-one years after an operation for breast cancer, three small hard nodules beneath the skin of the left chest in the immediate neighbourhood of the scar of the operation wound, enlargement of the veins over the front of the left chest, breathlessness, pain in the chest, dullness on percussion over the prominent area
Remission Characteristics
No further trouble until a few months before examination
Treatment & Mechanisms
Proposed Remission Mechanisms
Carcinoma cells may lay dormant in the tissues for a period of upwards of thirty years
Clinical Treatment
Operation for breast cancer
Additional Notes
The patient died the same night of the examination. There was certainly also a growth in the mediastinum, which had probably been present for some time, and which presumably caused the patient’s death.