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Highlights • Recurrence of breast cancer at the site of a prior core needle biopsy after definitive surgery is very rare—only 13 cases have been reported. • The majority are recurrent invasive cancers forming palpable masses in dermis and subcutaneous tissue at the skin puncture site of the core needle biopsy. • Diagnosis can be delayed if a lesion is not initially recognized as being at a needle biopsy site. • We report the first case of needle puncture site recurrence as Paget disease of the epidermis (ductal carcinoma in situ). • It is important to document the site of the skin puncture of a needle biopsy to aid in early detection, and recognition, of needle track recurrences., Introduction Core needle biopsy has become the preferred method of diagnosing breast carcinomas prior to definitive surgery. The possibility of displacing tumor cells into the needle track is a concern. Presentation of case A 38 year old woman was diagnosed with right breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) with microinvasion by core needle biopsy. Bilateral skin sparing mastectomies with immediate autologous reconstruction were performed. One and a half years later the patient noted erythema and a scaling crust on the skin of the right breast that progressed over several months. Punch biopsy revealed Paget disease restricted to the epidermis. Subsequent comparison to initial clinical photographs confirmed the cancer was associated with the skin puncture site of the needle biopsy. The patient underwent complete excision with skin grafting and remains free of disease three years later. Discussion Only 13 cases of needle track recurrences have been reported. The majority presented as invasive carcinoma forming a subcutaneous mass. In the current case, detection was delayed due to not initially noting that a skin lesion was at the puncture site of the original needle biopsy. This is the only case of recurrence as tumor limited to the epidermis. Conclusion Although recurrence in a needle track occurs very infrequently, clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon and investigate any changes, particularly when occurring at a needle biopsy site. Recording the skin puncture site can aid in early detection of recurrences. Recognition of a recurrence is important for prompt treatment and optimal prognosis.

Breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy poses unique challenges. Application of standard treatment algorithms is limited by lack of level I evidence from randomized trials. This study describes contemporary multidisciplinary treatment of pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) in an academic setting and explores early maternal and fetal outcomes. A search of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center clinical databases was performed to identify PABC cases. Sociodemographic, disease, pregnancy, and treatment information, as well as data on short-term maternal and fetal outcomes, were collected through retrospective chart review. 74 patients were identified, the majority with early-stage breast cancer. Most (73.5%) underwent surgical resection during pregnancy, including 40% with sentinel lymph node biopsy and 32% with immediate reconstruction. A total of 36 patients received anthracycline-based chemotherapy during pregnancy; of those, almost 20% were on a dose-dense schedule and 8.3% also received paclitaxel. 68 patients delivered liveborn infants; over half were delivered preterm (< 37 weeks), most scheduled to allow further maternal cancer therapy. For the infants with available data, all had normal Apgar scores and over 90% had birth weight >10th percentile. The rate of fetal malformations (4.4%) was not different than expected population rate. Within a multidisciplinary academic setting, PABC treatment followed contemporary algorithms without apparent increase in maternal or fetal adverse outcomes. A considerable number of preterm deliveries were observed, the majority planned to facilitate cancer therapy. Continued attention to maternal and fetal outcomes after PABC is required to determine the benefit of this delivery strategy.