ASO Author Reflections: Malignant/Borderline Phyllodes Tumors Without Uniformly Poor Histologic Features Have an Excellent Prognosis

Excerpt

Malignant/borderline phyllodes tumors of the breast are rare neoplasms with poorly understood prognosis following surgical excision. Rates of reported local and distant recurrence are widely variable in the literature due to changes in the grading of phyllodes tumors over time, as well as to subjectivity in grading attributed to overlapping histologic features and tumor heterogeneity.1 In addition, the current literature has failed to identify reproducible clinical and pathologic factors associated with both local and distant recurrence, limiting our ability to identify a ‘high-risk’ cohort of patients who may be at higher risk for recurrence. We reviewed our single-institution experience with malignant/borderline phyllodes tumors, treated predominantly without adjuvant therapy, to assess the rates of local and distant recurrence, and to identify factors associated with recurrence. …