Vol 21, No 3 (2019)

In the past century, lung cancer has become one of the most prevalent malignant neoplasms. The prognosis for patients with metastatic and locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was extremely pessimistic. The overall survival on standard platinum-based chemotherapy did not exceed 10 months. The treatment tactics choice, namely choice of specific chemotherapeutic regimen, was empirical. The situation has changed dramatically with the study of molecular-genetic disorders that contribute to a tumor development and targeted therapy availability. Until recently, the main approach to the treatment of patients with NSCLC with activating mutations was the use of first-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), then, in the case of disease progression, the administration of next generations drugs or chemotherapy. However, this trend has been changing lately, new generation of targeted drugs have a significant advantage in time till progression, better intracranial control, a more favorable safety profile, that establish them as first-line treatment. Recent data confirms also an improvement of overall survival. This article discusses the situation in EGFR-postive NSCLC.

Clinicoroentgenological diagnosis of early breast cancer - BC (non-invasive or invasive small-sized cancers) is difficult due to the absence of any characteristic clinical symptoms and pathognomonic roentgenological signs of the malignant process. Screening of BC has shown to be one of the most successful projects for early diagnosis of malignancies, but the probability to receive false negative results using screening mammography reaches 12%, and, on the one hand, this is due to interval cancers, and on the other hand - to defects in the primary screening. Among the factors associated with the likelihood of ineffective screening of BC, the most authors highlight such as high breast density, preceding the breast biopsy for a benign process, young age, as well as the use of hormone replacement therapy. The main methods of instrumental BC diagnostics are mammography, ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Mammography is the "gold standard" for both screening and best diagnostics, but is characterized by a high proportion of both false positive and false negative results, and this can be partially solved by the use of digital mammography with tomosynthesis (performing a series of mammography images obtained at different angles and producing the focused 3-D images). Contrast enhanced mammography allows to identify angiogenesis in the area of the predicted malignancy, but is characterized by a high radiation exposure. Breast ultrasound is characterized by low specificity of the method and the high dependence of the result of data interpretation depending on physician qualifications. MRI of the breast for screening is characterized by high sensitivity, but also high cost and high proportion of false positive results. The role of PET/computer tomography in the diagnosis of early BC remains unclear, and the informative value of research in patients with nonpalpable tumors is extremely low. The roentgenological picture of early BC is widely variable; characteristic features include the presence of clustered calcifications, lumps with jagged edges, rough multinodular lumps. However, in a significant proportion of women the only manifestation of early BC is the presence of microcalcinates. Careful analysis of the localization and the shape of microcalcinates and basic characteristics allows correctly interpret the roentgenological diagnosis and helps to choose the optimal diagnostic and treatment algorithm.

Aim. To assess the predictive value of digital mammography, breast ultrasound and a combination of these methods in the diagnosis of early breast cancer - BC (carcinomas in situ and invasive tumors up to 1.0 cm in size). Outcomes and methods. We retrospectively reviewed clinical records of 110 patients of the FSBI “N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology» of the Ministry of Health of Russia Federation who were examined and treated for early BC (ductal carcinoma in situ, lobular carcinoma in situ, and invasive breast cancer no larger than 1.0 cm in size without regional or systemic tumor spreading). All patients were examined using digital mammography across two projections, with targeted magnification if it was necessary, as well as breast ultrasound with B-mode, Doppler ultrasound and elastography. We analyzed a frequency of establishing various BI-RADS categories according to data of mammography and breast ultrasound. We also assessed breast tissue density, a presence of nodules and calcifications and their radiological characteristics, as well as a frequency of false-negative results of mammography and breast ultrasound, their radiological characteristics, and causes of obtaining the false-negative results. According to the data of mammography and breast ultrasound, the study group was divided into 2 subgroups: patients who were diagnosed with BC (BI-RADS 5) and patients with changes in the breast which were not clearly interpreted as malignant (BI-RADS 0-4). Statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS 20.0 program; differences were considered statistically significant with p<0,05. Results. According to the data of mammography, BI-RADS category 5 and 4 were determined in 80 (75,5%) and 9 (8.5%) patients, respectively; in other cases, the findings were interpreted as BI-RADS category 0-3. BC diagnosis (BI-RADS 5) was established significantly more often compared to BI-RADS 4 at a low breast tissue density (82.6% vs 50%, p=0.004), the presence of breast nodules (70% vs 7.7%, p<0.0001) and calcifications (68.8% vs 30.7%, p=0.002) and malignant changes in the microcalcifications (52.7% vs 25%, p=0.002). According to the data of breast ultrasound, BI-RADS category 5 and 0-4 were determined in 78 (73.6%) and 28 (26.4%) patients, respectively. The most pathognomonic ultrasound signs of early BC in the study group included: the presence of irregular hypoechoic masses with uneven not circumscribed margin, of non-parallel orientation, with an echogenic halo, acoustic shadowing and diffuse vascular changes. In 8 out of 26 patients whose BI-RADS category, based on mammography data only, was interpreted as 0-4, additional breast ultrasound increased the BI-RADS category to 5. The findings that allowed to establish a correct radiological diagnosis were: irregular shape of masses, uneven not circumscribed margin, hypoechoic structure, non-parallel orientation, presence of an echogenic halo and acoustic shadowing. Conclusions. The combination of mammography and breast ultrasound increased the likelihood of the identification of malignant breast neoplasms and increased the frequency of interpretation of the revealed findings as BI-RADS category 5 from 75,5 to 83%. Along with this, the frequency of determining BI-RADS category 4-5 increased from 85.6 to 93.5%. The rationale of using this combination of diagnostic methods for screening BC in Russia can be assessed by conducting a larger study and after an analysis of its economic efficiency.

Neuroendocrine neoplasia (NEC) of the prostate gland is a rather rare extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma and makes up only 0.5 to 1% of all malignant neoplasms of this localization. NEC of the prostate gland is a tumor of epithelial origin, histologically and immunohistochemically identical to analogues in the lungs and digestive system. When stained with hemotoxylin-eosin, neuroendocrine cells cannot always be visualized; they are best recognized by the immunohistochemical method of investigation using specific markers. Currently, a number of neuroendocrine markers are used, the expression of which may indicate a neuroendocrine nature. Androgen neuroendocrine cells themselves are independent and do not cause an increase in the concentration of prostate-specific antigen. Prostate NECs are represented by some histological forms according to WHO classification (2015): 1. Adenocarcinoma with focal neuroendocrine differentiation. 2. Well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumor. 3. Small cell neuroendocrine cancer is a high - grade tumor with high malignant potential. 4. Large cell neuroendocrine cancer is a high - grade tumor. Due to the rarity of NEC of the prostate, a specific algorithm for diagnosis and treatment has not been developed, as a rule, they are similar to methods of other malignant forms of prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.