Ulcerative breast cancer: case report and review of management

In the literature, there is an astonishingly small amount of information on specific treatment modalities of locally advanced, ulcerated breast cancer. Here we present a case report and a literature review on ulceration in breast cancer. An older, so far untreated woman with complete ulcerative destruction of her right breast was inoperable because of the extent of the tumor. Primary anthracycline-based chemotherapy and hormonal therapy led to major tumor shrinkage with complete ulcer healing, which was maintained for nearly 2 years. There is increasing evidence from the literature that primary chemotherapy may particularly benefit patients with inoperable ulceration, as also illustrated by our case.