[Locally advanced breast cancer with a good response to sequential endocrine monotherapy--a case report].

An 81-year-old woman with a right breast tumor exposed through the skin surface visited our clinic in June 2004. Pathological findings of the resected tumor specimen indicated invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast,positive ER/PgR status,and negative HER 2/neu status. The enlarged right axillary lymph nodes were palpable.

[Two cases of recurrent breast cancer with regional lymph node metastases showing a complete response to trastuzumab and paclitaxel treatment].

We report two cases of recurrent breast cancer with regional lymph node metastases that responded completely to treatment with trastuzumab and paclitaxel. Case 1: A 52-year-old woman, who presented with left breast cancer, underwent mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection in July 2002. Pathological findings were as follows: invasive ductal carcinoma (scirrhous type), 2.

Joint symptoms: a practical problem of anastrozole.

Background: Anastrozole and tamoxifen have mild toxicity. However, we noticed that more patients treated with anastrozole complained of joint symptoms than expected. In particular, digital stiffness as is seen with rheumatoid arthritis is a problem.

[Two cases of stage IV breast cancer with severe hypercalcemia].

Case 1: A 34-year-old woman,who had a right breast cancer with axillary lymph node metastasis and multiple bone metastases, was referred to our clinic. She developed paralysis of lower extremities and disorder of the bladder and rectum due to metastasis to the thoracic vertebra, and also had renal dysfunction due to severe hypercalcemia and hemorrhagic cystitis. Correcting the serum calcium level with intravenous infusion, elcatonin, pamidronate and betamethasone, she underwent radiation therapy for the vertebral metastasis.