Simultaneous Breast and Liver Surgery in a Patient with Stage IV Triple Positive Breast Cancer - A Case Report

Introduction: In the modern context of multimodal treatment strategies for cancer patients with systemic disease, the dogma that surgery has a limited role is becoming less and less valid. Although a "œcurative" approach is not possible for the majority of the cases, however, some patients with limited systemic disease and favorable tumor biology could benefit from an aggressive combined cytotoxic and surgical strategy.

A 48-year-old patient was diagnosed with an invasive ductal carcinoma with the immunohistochemistry positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors, positive Her2 and three liver metastases. After nine cycles of chemotherapy, a favorable tumor response was identified at the level of the primary tumor as well as for the liver lesions: two of the metastases have disappeared, and the third one decreased in dimensions. The patient was operated in our unit, a lumpectomy together with a level II axillary lymph nodes dissection and a non-anatomic resection of the segment V of the liver was performed. Conclusions: A subgroup of patients with stage IV breast cancer with limited liver metastases and no extrahepatic disease might benefit from an aggressive combined cytotoxic and surgical strategy regarding disease control and overall survival.