Cancer Health Center

Note: Some citations in the text of this section are followed by a level of evidence. The PDQ editorial boards use a formal ranking system to help the reader judge the strength of evidence linked to the reported results of a therapeutic strategy. (Refer to the PDQ summary on Levels of Evidence for more information.)

Thoracic cancers include breast cancer, bronchial adenomas, bronchial carcinoid tumors, pleuropulmonary blastoma, esophageal tumors, thymomas, thymic carcinomas, cardiac tumors, and mesothelioma. The prognosis, diagnosis, classification, and treatment of these thoracic cancers are discussed below. It must be emphasized that these cancers are seen very infrequently in patients younger than 15 years, and most of the evidence is derived from case series.[1]

Breast Cancer

The most frequent breast tumor seen in children is a fibroadenoma.[2] These tumors can be observed and many will regress without a need for biopsy. However, rare malignant transformation leading to phyllodes tumors has been reported.[3] Sudden rapid enlargement of a suspected fibroadenoma is an indication for needle biopsy or excision. Phyllodes tumors can be managed by wide local excision without mastectomy.[3]

Breast cancer has been reported in both males and females younger than 21 years.[4,5,6,7,8,9] A review of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database shows that 75 cases of malignant breast tumors in females 19 years or younger were identified from 1973 to 2004.[10] Fifteen percent of these patients had in situ disease, 85% had invasive disease, 55% of the tumors were carcinomas, and 45% of the tumors were sarcomas-most of which were phyllodes tumors. Only three patients in the carcinoma group presented with metastatic disease, while 11 patients (27%) had regionally advanced disease. All patients with sarcomas presented with localized disease. Of the carcinoma patients, 85% underwent surgical resection, and 10% received adjuvant radiation therapy. Of the sarcoma patients, 97% had surgical resection, and 9% received radiation. The 5- and 10-year survival rates for patients with sarcomatous tumors were both 90%; for patients with carcinomas, the 5- and 10-year survival rates were 63% and 54%, respectively.

There is an increased lifetime risk of breast cancer in female survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma who were treated with radiation to the chest area, however, breast cancer is also seen in patients who were treated for any cancer that was treated with chest irradiation.[8,11,12,13] Carcinomas are more frequent than sarcomas. Mammograms should start at age 25 years or 10 years postexposure to radiation therapy (whichever came last). (Refer to the PDQ summary on the Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer for more information about secondary breast cancers.) Breast tumors may also occur as metastatic deposits from leukemia, rhabdomyosarcoma, other sarcomas, or lymphoma (particularly in patients who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus). (Refer to the PDQ summary on adult Breast Cancer Treatment for more information.)