Background/Aim:

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common type of breast cancer.  It accounts for 5% to 15 % of all breast cancers.  The biological behaviour of ILC is distinct.  There is conflicting data available on outcomes and optimal management of lobular carcinoma of the breast.  We aim to collect information on baseline characteristics and clinical outcome of patients diagnosed and treated for invasive lobular carcinoma at St Vincent’s Cancer Centre, Melbourne. 

Methods:

We performed a retrospective data analysis. Patients diagnosed and treated for ILC were identified from the Oncology Department database at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. Information was collected on baseline patient and tumour characteristics, type of treatment received and clinical outcome. 

Results:

There were 165 patients identified from January 1977 to 2012 who were diagnosed and treated for ILC. All patients were female and the mean age was 57.7 years (range 33-86).  Sixty nine percent were fifty years of age or older patients. Histopathological grade was known in 122 patients. Among them 93% had moderate to poorly differentiated carcinoma. Patients diagnosed with stage I to stage IV were included, 41 (24.8%) had stage I, 74 (44.8%) stage II, 30 (18.2%) stage III and 15 (9.1%) had stage IV disease. Nodal status was not known in 17.6 %, 43% had node negative and 39.4% had node positive disease. Eighty four percent of patients had ER and 64% had PR positive ILC. Of the 145 patients with early stage disease, 28% had disease recurrence and among them 21.9% had stage I, 51% had stage II and 26.8% had stage III disease at diagnosis. Of patients with recurrent disease 63.4% received adjuvant chemotherapy and 75.6% received adjuvant endocrine treatment.

Conclusion:

Our reported findings are similar to other published studies. ILC has a distinct biological behaviour hence management decisions should be individualised based on patient and tumour characteristics.