Glycogen‑rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast with solid papillary pattern: Two cases with heterogeneous clinicopathological features

Georgescu,Tiberiu-Augustin; Munteanu,Octavian; Lisievici,Antonia-Carmen; Tebeică,Tiberiu; Crețoiu,Dragoș; Toader,Oana; Suciu,Nicolae; Bohîlțea,Roxana Elena

doi:10.3892/etm.2021.9956

Glycogen‑rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast with solid papillary pattern: Two cases with heterogeneous clinicopathological features

Authors:
- Tiberiu-Augustin Georgescu
- Octavian Munteanu
- Antonia-Carmen Lisievici
- Tiberiu Tebeică
- Dragoș Crețoiu
- Oana Toader
- Nicolae Suciu
- Roxana Elena Bohîlțea
View Affiliations

Affiliations: Department of Pathology, ‘Alessandrescu‑Rusescu’ National Institute for Mother and Child Health, 020395 Bucharest, Romania, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emergency University Hospital of Bucharest, 050098 Bucharest, Romania, Discipline of Pathology, ‘Carol Davila’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania, Department of Pathology, Dr Leventer Centre, 011216 Bucharest, Romania, Department of Genetics, ‘Alessandrescu‑Rusescu’ National Institute for Mother and Child Health, 020395 Bucharest, Romania, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ‘Alessandrescu‑Rusescu’ National Institute for Mother and Child Health, 020395 Bucharest, Romania
Published online on: March 22, 2021 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2021.9956
Article Number: 524
Copyright: © Georgescu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

Metrics: Total Views: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )

Metrics: Total PDF Downloads: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )

Cited By (CrossRef): 0 citations Loading Articles...

Abstract

Invasive breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, both in its histopathological classification and clinical course. Glycogen‑rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast is an extremely rare subtype of invasive breast carcinoma, accounting for up to 3% of all breast carcinomas. The tumor is composed of polygonal cells with abundant clear cytoplasm containing glycogen and has a very controversial prognosis. Solid papillary pattern is an uncommon morphological variant of breast carcinoma which is associated with indolent behavior in the absence of an invasive component. To date, there are only three cases of glycogen‑rich clear cell carcinoma with solid papillary pattern reported in the English literature. In this article, we present two cases of glycogen‑rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast, encountered in our daily clinical practice over a period of 5 years (2015‑2020) and perform a brief review of currently published literature. Unlike most cases of glycogen‑rich clear cell carcinoma documented to date, follow‑up of our case featuring solid papillary pattern revealed extremely favorable clinical outcome, suggesting a better prognosis for tumors with this morphology.

View Figures

View References

1	Thondavadi SR, Krishnamurthy J and Gubbanna VM: A case report of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of breast. Indian J Pathol Microbiol. 53:374–375. 2010.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
2	Allison KH, Brogi E and Ellis IO: WHO Classification of Tumours: Breast Tumours: 5th edition. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, pp102-109, 2019.
3	Hull MT, Priest JB, Broadie TA, Ransburg RC and McCarthy LJ: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A light and electron microscopic study. Cancer. 48:2003–2009. 1981.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
4	Hayes MM, Seidman JD and Ashton MA: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A clinicopathologic study of 21 cases. Am J Surg Pathol. 19:904–911. 1995.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
5	Toikkanen S and Joensuu H: Glycogen-rich clear-cell carcinoma of the breast: A clinicopathologic and flow cytometric study. Hum Pathol. 22:81–83. 1991.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
6	Fisher ER, Tavares J, Bulatao IS, Sass R and Fisher B: Glycogen-rich, clear cell breast cancer: With comments concering other clear cell variants. Hum Pathol. 16:1085–1090. 1985.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
7	Zhou Z, Kinslow CJ, Hibshoosh H, Guo H, Cheng SK, He C, Gentry MS and Sun RC: Clinical features, survival and prognostic factors of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma (GRCC) of the breast in the U.S. Population. J Clin Med. 8(246)2019.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
8	Sørensen FB and Paulsen SM: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A solid variant with mucus. A light microscopic, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of a case. Histopathology. 11:857–869. 1987.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
9	Di Tommaso L, Pasquinelli G, Portincasa G and Santini D: Glycogen-rich clear-cell breast carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation features. Pathologica. 93:676–680. 2001.PubMed/NCBI(In Italian).
10	Ionescu CA, Matei A, Navolan D, Dimitriu M, Bohâltea R, Neacsu A, Ilinca C and Ples L: Correlation of ultrasound features and the Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm score for different histopathological subtypes of benign adnexal masses. Medicine (Baltimore). 97(e11762)2018.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
11	Salemis NS: Intraductal glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A rare presentation and review of the literature. Breast Care (Basel). 7:319–321. 2012.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
12	Seki H, Sasaki K, Morinaga S, Asanuma F, Yanaihara H, Kaneda M, Suzuki K, Ishii Y, Kamiya N, Osaku M and Ikeda T: A case of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast with extensive intraductal components and micrometastases to the axillary lymph node. Gan To Kagaku Ryoho. 43:239–241. 2016.PubMed/NCBI(In Japanese).
13	Kuroda H, Sakamoto G, Ohnisi K and Itoyama S: Clinical and pathological features of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast. Breast Cancer. 12:189–195. 2005.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
14	Ratti V and Pagani O: Clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A rare breast cancer subtype-case report and literature review. Case Rep Oncol. 8:472–477. 2015.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
15	Eun NL, Cha YJ, Son EJ, Gweon HM, Kim JA and Youk JH: Clinical imaging of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A case series with literature review. Magn Reson Med Sci. 18:238–242. 2019.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
16	Takekawa Y, Kubo A, Morita T, Kameda K, Kimura M, Sakakibara M, Yoshii R and Yamashita Y: Histopathological and immunohistochemical findings in a case of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast. Rinsho Byori. 54:27–30. 2006.PubMed/NCBI
17	Pak I, Kutun S, Celik A, Alyanak A, Ardic F and Cetin A: Glycogen-rich ‘clear cell’ carcinoma of the breast. Breast J. 11(288)2005.
18	Trupiano JK, Ogrodowczyk E and Bergman S: Pathologic quiz case: Mass in the right breast. Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 127:1629–1630. 2003.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
19	Satoh F, Umemura S, Itoh H, Miyajima Y, Tokuda Y, Tajima T and Osamura RY: Fine needle aspiration cytology of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A case report. Acta Cytol. 42:413–418. 1998.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
20	Mizukami Y, Takayama T, Takemura A, Ichikawa K, Onoguchi M and Taniya T: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A case report. J Med Ultrason. 36:39–43. 2009.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
21	Markopoulos C, Mantas D, Philipidis T, Kouskos E, Antonopoulou Z, Hatzinikolaou ML and Gogas H: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast. World J Surg Oncol. 6(44)2008.
22	Gürbüz Y and Ozkara SK: Clear cell carcinoma of the breast with solid papillary pattern: A case report with immunohistochemical profile. J Clin Pathol. 56:552–554. 2003.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
23	Yerushalmi R, Hayes MM and Gelmon KA: Breast carcinoma-Rare types: Review of the literature. Ann Oncol. 20:1763–1770. 2009.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
24	Hull MT and Warfel KA: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinomas of the breast. A clinicopathologic and ultrastructural study. Am J Surg Pathol. 10:553–559. 1986.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
25	Badea M, Baroş A, Bohîlţea RE, Julea IE, Furtunescu FL, Istrate-Ofiţeru AM, Iovan L, Cîrstoiu MM, Burcin MR, Turcan N, et al: Modern interdisciplinary monitoring of cervical cancer risk. Rom J Morphol Embryol. 60:469–478. 2019.PubMed/NCBI
26	Govender D, Sabaratnam RM and Essa AS: Clear cell ‘sugar’ tumor of the breast: Another extrapulmonary site and review of the literature. Am J Surg Pathol. 26:670–675. 2002.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
27	Vranic S, Skenderi F, Beslagic V and Gatalica Z: Glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: A comprehensive review. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 28:655–660. 2020.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar
28	Sinha KP and Bharati P: Glycogen rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast: a rare case report. IOSR J Dental Medical Sci. 15:85–87. 2016.e-ISSN: 2279-0853, p-ISSN: 2279-0861. Ver. VIII.
29	Ma X, Han Y, Fan Y, Cao X and Wang X: Clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of glycogen-rich clear cell carcinoma of the breast. Breast J. 20:166–173. 2014.PubMed/NCBI View Article : Google Scholar