Purpose: Phyllode tumors of the breast are fibroepithelial tumors similar to fibroadenomas but with a predominant conjunctive tissue component. These are composed of a connective tissue stroma and epithelial elements. They are rare with an incidence of 0.3-0.9% of all breast neoplasms. The present study demonstrates the recent experiences in diagnosis, therapeutical management and clinical follow-up of this disease.
Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study of the experience of the Institut National d'Oncologie (INO, Rabat) from 1998 to 2006.
Results: We included 53 patients. Median age was 37.2 years (15-67), tumor size was 1-30cm (median 10.25cm). The histological diagnosis was based on the biopsy in (7.8%) cases and extemporany in 22% cases, distant metastasis occurred in two patients; the treatment consisted of a surgery. The median follow-up was three years. Local recurrence occurred in ten patients. Distant metastasis occurred in two patients and five patients have died.
Conclusion: The confrontation of our results to the data of the international literature shows that the diagnosis of the phyllodes tumours is histological. The basis of the treatment is surgery. The adjuvant radiotherapy is very important in patients at high risk for local recurrence; chemotherapy has a badly defined place. The prognostic is based on the histological characters of the tissue conjunctive component of these tumours.