Clinical and morphological characteristics of bilateral breast cancer

Background. The paper has been devoted to the study of clinical and morphological features of bilateral breast cancer (BC). Despite the increased interest in the lateral BC, pathogenesis of this type of cancer have been little studied. Materials and methods. Clinical and morphological parameters were studied in 600 patients with unilateral and bilateral breast carcinoma. Results. Synchronous and metachronic bilateral breast cancer is characterized by more pronounced heterogeneity of the morphological structure with the frequent presence of discrete groups of tumor cells and ductal structures in the tumor node as compared to unilateral breast cancer. Synchronous bilateral breast cancer has a favorable clinical course and is mainly represented by the luminal A molecular genetic type. Metachronous bilateral breast cancer is often characterized as a triple negative and luminal B type with high proliferative activity and is associated with poor prognosis. There is a difference in prog- nostic parameters of lymphogenous and hematogenous metastasis between synchronous and metachronous breast cancer. For synchronous bilateral breast cancer, morphological parameters can serve as prognostic factors of hematogenous and lymphogenous metastasis. For metachronous breast cancer, prognosis of hematogenous metastasis is associated with severity of lymphogenous metastasis. Conclusion. The data obtained allow us to determine the typical clinical and morphological features of synchronous and metachronous bilateral breast cancers, as well as to identify additional prognostic parameters of tumor progression.