Multiple primary malignant neoplasms: multi-center results from Turkey

Multiple primary malignant neoplasms (MPMNs) are defined as a diagnosis of two or more indepen-dent primary malignancies of different histologies/origins in an individual. The frequency of MPMN is being increasing. In this study we aimed to determine the frequency and clinical features of second primary cancers (SPCs).

From January 1990 to December 2010, patients with MPMNs were screened in 5 centers. Data were obtained retrospectively from hospital charts.

Three hundred seventy-seven patients with MPMNs were evaluated. The median age at initial cancer diagnosis was 61 years (range 18-88). The median age at second cancer was 64 years (range 20-89). The median time between two cancer diagnoses was 15 months (range 0-504). Male to female ratio was 1.44 (M/F 223/154). The most frequent initial cancer types were head and neck (54 patients, 14.3%), breast (54 patients, 14.3%), and colorectal (43 patients, 11.4%). The most frequent second cancer types were lung (76 patients, 20.2%), colorectal (39 patients, 10.3%) and breast (33 patients, 8.8%). The most common cancer pairs in females were breast-gynecologic cancers (15 patients, 9.7%), colorectal-breast cancers (9 patients, 5.8%) and breast-colorectal cancers (7 patients, 4.5%). The most common cancer pairs in males were head and neck-lung cancers (29 patients, 13%), bladder-lung cancers (9 patients, 4%), and bladder-prostate cancers (7 patients, 3%). The median follow up was 36 months (range 17horbar;595).

Physicians should be aware of SPCs probabilities. Newly developed suspicious lesions should be evaluated rigorously. Histopathologic evaluations of suspicious lesions for second tumors should be used extensively if needed. In our series, the most common pairs were breast-gynecologic cancers in females and head and neck-lung cancers in males.