CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
This article is part of the Research TopicRedefining Care: Integrating Surgical Innovations and Precision Medicine in Breast Cancer TreatmentView all 8 articles
Malignant Phyllodes Tumor of the Breast with Short-Term Multiple Recurrences and Systemic Distant Metastasis: A Case Report and Literature Review
Provisionally accepted
- The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
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Malignant phyllodes tumor (MPT) of the breast is a rare fibroepithelial neoplasm that is often misdiagnosed as a benign tumor or fibromatosis. It is characterized by rapid growth and a high tendency for recurrence, though distant metastasis is relatively uncommon. This case report presents a 61-year-old female patient with a breast mass that was initially suspected to be a fibroadenoma based on core needle biopsy. Consequently, she underwent lumpectomy, and postoperative pathology indicated a tendency towards desmoid-type fibromatosis. However, the tumor recurred rapidly 29 days later, prompting a subsequent total mastectomy. The final diagnosis confirmed malignant phyllodes tumor. Forty days later, during radiotherapy, the tumor recurred again with concurrent systemic distant metastasis, and the patient was subsequently initiated on systemic therapy. By analyzing the diagnostic and treatment process as well as pathological features, this report highlights the importance of early definitive diagnosis, surgical margins, adjuvant therapy, and systemic treatment in improving the prognosis of breast MPT.
Keywords: Phyllodes Tumor, Breast sarcoma, Recurrence, metastasis, diagnosis, therapy
Received: 29 Sep 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhou, Gao, Zhao, Ye, Liang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bin Wu
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