Primary Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Breast: A Case Report and Literature Review

Primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast (NECB) is a rare tumor; it represents less than 0.1% of breast malignancies and under 1% from all neuroendocrine carcinomas. The diagnosis is based on histopatholgic analysis after biopsy or surgery, when identifying more than 50% of tumor cells express chromogranin, synaptophysin and/or neuron-specific enolase. The primitive character cannot be accepted until exclusion of another extra breast location or by the presence of an in situ component histologically proven. Given the limited number of cases reported in the literature, there is no consensual treatment. The data currently available suggest that the prognosis of NECB is not worse as we thought, especially for tumors detected at an early stage, without lymph node metastasis. We report herein the clinical observation of a 57-year-old Arabic woman, presented to our institution for breast tumor, histologic analysis of surgical specimens revealed neuroendocrine carcinoma. An adjuvant treatment based on chemotherapy and radiation therapy has been conducted. Our patient is disease free after a close follow-up of 3 years.