Evaluation of Patients with Synchronous Bilateral Breast Cancer

Objective: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The incidence of bilateral breast cancer is 2%-11%. Synchronous bilateral breast cancer is uncommon (1%-2%). Bilateral breast cancer has worse prognosis than unilateral cancer. The aim of the retrospective study was to evaluate the incidence and demographic features of synchronous bilateral breast cancer patients in our hospital. Methods: We analyzed 266 breast cancer patients who were treated at our oncology department between January 2010 and December 2013. Five patients had synchronous bilateral breast cancer that was diagnosed at the same time. Results: We determined that five (1.87%) patients had synchronous bilateral breast cancer in this study. Of the five patients, one was a man and four were women. Median age was 53 years (40-64). Two patients were in premenopausal status. One patient revealed a positive family history of first-degree relatives. All of the patients had estrogen receptor positivity and invasive ductal carcinoma histopathology. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was given to four patients. Only one metastatic patient had palliative chemotherapy. All patients had modified radical mastectomies and postoperative radiation therapy for bilateral breast cancer. Conclusion: Our clinical findings show a correlation with literature knowledge. Synchronous bilateral breast cancer is uncommon, and published data indicates worse prognosis. Hence, patients should be evaluated for the risk of contralateral breast cancer carefully at the same time of diagnosis.