Malignant pleural effusion in breast cancer 12 years after mastectomy that was successfully treated with endocrine therapy

Patient: Female, 94 Final Diagnosis: Malignant pleural effusion Symptoms: — Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Cytology Specialty: Oncology OBJECTIVE: Unusual clinical course BACKGROUND: The most common site of postoperative breast cancer recurrence is bone, followed by local relapse, lung, and liver. The majority of relapses occur within the first 3 years after surgery. Pleural recurrences more than 10 years after surgery are rare. CASE REPORT: A 94-year-old woman who had undergone modified radical mastectomy for right breast cancer (invasive ductal carcinoma, pT2, pN1, ER+, PgR+) 12 years earlier presented to our hospital with carcinomatous pleuritis and a chief complaint of dyspnea. Endocrine therapy with oral letrozole was started and the pleural effusion had disappeared 3 months later. CONCLUSIONS: Oral endocrine therapy may be effective for the treatment of late recurrence of hormon receptor-positive breast cancer in elderly women.