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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · South Asian J Cancer 2016; 05(01): 29-32
DOI: 10.4103/2278-330X.179698
MULTIPLE CANCERS Original Article

Multiple primary cancers: An enigma

Amitabh Jena
Department of Surgical Oncology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
,
Rashmi Patnayak
Department of Pathology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
,
Amancharla Yadagiri Lakshmi
Department of Radiology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
,
Banoth Manilal
Department of Surgical Oncology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
,
Mandyam Kumaraswamy Reddy
Department of Pathology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
› Author Affiliations Source of Support: Nill.
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Abstract

Background: Incidence of multiple primary cancers though uncommon, is being frequently reported now-a-days owing to better diagnostic techniques, the prolonged life span and the increased incidence of long-term survival of cancer patients. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study. Cases of multiple malignancies diagnosed histopathologically were retrieved from the archives of department of surgical oncology. Clinical data were obtained from the medical records. They were categorized as synchronous malignancies if the interval between them was less or equal to 6 months and metachronous, if the interval was more than 6 months. Results: A total of 13 cases were encountered in the 5 year study period. Out of them two were in the metachronous category and the rest were synchronous as the 2nd malignancy was detected mostly during clinical evaluation of the patients for the primary malignancy. There was female predominance with age range being 43-68 years. Majority of the cases were in the 7th decade. The most common organ involved was breast, followed by cervix. Apart from bilateral breast malignancies, there were combinations like breast with uterine endometrial carcinoma, cervical carcinoma and even papillary thyroid carcinoma. Conclusion: Detection of multiple primary malignancies is becoming increasingly common in day-to-day practice. Greater awareness of this is required among both cancer patients and their treating clinicians.

Key words

Dual malignancies - metachronous malignancy - multiple primary cancers - synchronous malignancy


Publication History

Article published online:
30 December 2020

© 2016. MedIntel Services Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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