Occult breast cancer. Literature review and case series

Background. Currently, there are several forms of breast cancer (BC): nodular, diffuse, edematous-infiltrative, mastitis-like form, as well
as Paget’s cancer. A special form of BC is the hidden or occult form. Taking into account the analysis of methods for the diagnosis and treatment of occult BC, it is important that this form of the disease is detected at a later stage. It includes axillary lymphadenopathy and histologically appears to be a metastatic lesion of the lymph nodes from undetectable invasive BC.

Materials and methods. We conducted a thorough analysis of domestic and foreign literature and described two clinical examples with authentic documentation of the results of the examination and treatment. The article describes in detail the schemes of drug treatment and descriptions of the results of morphological examination of the surgical material.

Results. Given the complexity of the diagnostic stage, the clinical form of the course of diseases, the described clinical examples can be attributed specifically to the occult form of BC. An important and determining factor in treatment is the diagnostic stage using all possible methods, including positron emission tomography–computed tomography, breast magnetic resonance imaging and trepan-biopsy of regional lymph nodes, followed by the determination of the molecular biological subtype of the tumor.

Conclusions. In this article, the presented data confirm the general statement about the uniqueness of this disease, which requires a more detailed and multidisciplinary approach at the stage of diagnosis and determination of treatment tactics.