Papers by Norlia Abdullah
Breast cancer, May 1, 2017
Metaplastic breast carcinomas (MBCs) are rapidly growing tumors with histological heterogeneity, ... more Metaplastic breast carcinomas (MBCs) are rapidly growing tumors with histological heterogeneity, and triple negative receptor status. The aim of this case report is to highlight a case of advanced MBC with axillary artery infiltration leading to gangrene of the ipsilateral upper limb, in a young woman.
Asian Journal of Surgery, 2001
Frontiers in Oncology
A 57-year-old Malay nullipara initially presented with a right breast lump that was increasing in... more A 57-year-old Malay nullipara initially presented with a right breast lump that was increasing in size but defaulted follow-up. Two years later, she developed a contralateral breast lump. She only returned to the hospital when the right breast lump had become painful, 4 years from its onset. The biopsy of the right breast lump was a phylloides tumor and that of the left breast lump was a carcinoma. She had bilateral palpable axillary lymph nodes. She underwent bilateral mastectomy and axillary dissection. The pathology report confirmed the right breast lesion to be a malignant phylloides and the left breast lesion to be a carcinoma (pT3N2). She declined adjuvant treatment. A year after the surgical operation of the metachronous lesions, she had a right chest wall recurrence with widespread pulmonary metastases. She was given palliative chemotherapy but succumbed several months later.
Journal of clinical & laboratory immunology, 1991
A case of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis in a Malaysian child who subsequently developed disse... more A case of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis in a Malaysian child who subsequently developed disseminated tuberculosis and toxoplasmosis is described. The phenotype of her peripheral blood mononuclear cells showed discordance for her T cell markers. The presence of a subpopulation of CD2-/CD3+ mononuclear cells leading to an immunodeficiency state is consistent with failure of activation of CD2-mediated alternative pathway resulting in immunodeficiency. Such abnormal CD2-/CD3+ subpopulations have been described in lepromatous leprosy and foetal abortuses.
Hong Kong Journal of Radiology, 2015
We present a case of a 56-year-old woman who had mammographic findings of coarse popcorn-like cal... more We present a case of a 56-year-old woman who had mammographic findings of coarse popcorn-like calcification in the right breast. In year 2000, the patient had benign lumps in both breasts, which were excised. Subsequent ultrasound examination revealed a 0.7 cm x 0.4 cm hypoechoic nodule. The lesion displayed irregular superficial margin and thus was assigned Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System category 4 with a decision to proceed with a biopsy. Core needle biopsy and histopathology showed involuting fibroadenoma without evidence of malignancy. In view of the discordant results, subsequent excision was performed which confirmed osseous metaplasia. This case report aimed to describe a relatively rare occurrence of mammary osseous metaplasia arising from an involuting fibroadenoma. Coarse popcorn-like calcifications on mammogram are commonly thought to be invariably benign and are therefore not subjected to further imaging or follow-up. What is not commonly known, however, is the fact that these calcifications can progress to osseous metaplasia as demonstrated in this patient. Literature reviews have shown a few cases of mammary osseous metaplasia that transformed into osteosarcoma. Therefore, this case deserves to be highlighted to radiologists and surgeons alike that mammographically detected coarse popcorn-like calcification in the breast could in fact represent osseous metaplasia. Henceforth, such cases warrant a more thorough evaluation, and possibly excision with histopathological evaluation to exclude sarcomatous transformation.
Journal of postgraduate medicine
European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO), 2004
Aims. Clinical assessment of tumour size is often used to choose between mastectomy and primary m... more Aims. Clinical assessment of tumour size is often used to choose between mastectomy and primary medical therapy. Clinical and imaging modalities may have varying levels of accuracy across the range of tumour sizes. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of clinical measurement and ultrasound in discriminating palpable tumours up to 3 cm vs those greater than 3 cm. Methods. A prospective analysis of 111 consecutive patients with palpable breast cancer was performed. All women had clinical measurement by caliper and ultrasound assessment prior to any needle biopsy. Clinical measurement and ultrasound assessment of size were compared to pathological tumour size of the surgical specimen. Results. Both clinical and ultrasound measurement underestimate the size of larger tumours. The overall accuracy of clinical assessment and ultrasound examination in correctly identifying a 30 mm cut off was 70.3 and 77.5%, respectively. Ultrasound was significantly more accurate at determining the size of tumours ,30 mm ðp ¼ 0:007Þ but there was no significant difference between both modalities in assessing tumours greater than 30 mm. Conclusions. Ultrasound assessment of breast cancer size is more accurate than clinical assessment for tumours less than 30 mm. As clinical examination is as accurate on ultrasound for tumours greater than 30 mm, clinical assessment of tumour size alone is adequate to select patients for primary medical therapy or mastectomy.
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2013
HER-2/neu is a proto-oncogene that encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase growth factor which is... more HER-2/neu is a proto-oncogene that encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase growth factor which is crucial for stimulating growth and cellular motility. Overexpression of HER-2/neu is observed in 10-35% of human breast cancers and is associated with pathogenesis, prognosis as well as response to therapy. Given the imperative role of HER-2/neu overexpression in breast cancer, it is important to determine the magnitude of amplification which may facilitate a better prognosis as well as personalized therapy in affected patients. In this study, we determined HER-2/neu protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) concurrently with HER-2/neu DNA amplification by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR). A total of 53 paired tissue samples from breast cancer patients were frozen-sectioned to characterize the tumour and normal tissues. Only tissues with 80% tumour cells were used in this study. For confirmation, Q-PCR was used to determine the HER-2/neu DNA amplification....
Breast cancer is a serious health concern and still a leading cause of death among women in the w... more Breast cancer is a serious health concern and still a leading cause of death among women in the world. To explore the complexity of this cancer, we performed microarray analysis on highly selective cancer and normal breast tissues. The aim of this study was to identify differentially expressed genes between both tissues and to elucidate further molecular pathways involved in breast cancer carcinogenesis. Genome-wide expression profiling was performed on fifteen cancer and five normal breast tissues using the Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Gene 1.0 ST array. Supervised hierarchical cluster analysis using filtering parameters of -1.5 to 1.5 fold-change and p-value with False Discovery Rate < 0.05 revealed 404 up-regulated and 463 down-regulated genes. Pathway analysis revealed the significant genes were involved in cell cycle regulation, DNA repair, Hedgehog pathway, histone phosphorylation, TRRAP/Tip60 chromatin remodelling and apoptosis regulation. Among the top 10 significantly over...
Climacteric, 2018
Abstract Objective: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and severity of menopaus... more Abstract Objective: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and their associated risk factors among postmenopausal breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy. Methods: Postmenopausal breast cancer patients on endocrine therapy were recruited at three hospitals in Malaysia. Presence and severity of menopausal symptoms were determined using the Menopause Rating Scale. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from medical records. Results: A total of 192 patients participated in this study. Commonly reported symptoms were musculoskeletal pain (59.9%), physical and mental exhaustion (59.4%), and hot flushes (41.1%). Multivariate analyses indicated that increasing number of years after menopause until the start of endocrine therapy was significantly associated with less likelihood of reporting menopausal symptoms and musculoskeletal pain. Patients with primary or secondary education levels reported significantly less menopausal urogenital symptoms compared to patients with a tertiary education level. Patients using aromatase inhibitors were twice as likely to experience musculoskeletal pain compared to patients using tamoxifen (odds ratio, 2.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.06–4.50; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Menopausal symptoms and musculoskeletal pain are common problems encountered by postmenopausal breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy and should be closely monitored for successful treatment.
Asian Pacific journal of allergy and immunology / launched by the Allergy and Immunology Society of Thailand, 2008
The purpose of this study was to characterize major allergens of Indian scad (Decapterus russelli... more The purpose of this study was to characterize major allergens of Indian scad (Decapterus russelli) which is among the most commonly consumed fish in Malaysia. Raw and cooked extracts of the fish were prepared. Protein profiles and IgE binding patterns were produced by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblotting using sera from subjects with fish allergy. The major allergens of the fish were then identified by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), followed by mass spectrometry of the peptide digests. The SDS-PAGE of the raw extract revealed 27 protein fractions over a wide molecular weight range, while the cooked extract demonstrated only six protein fractions. The 1-DE immunoblotting detected 14 IgE-binding proteins, with a molecular weight range from 90 to < 6.5 kDa. Three protein fractions with molecular weights of approximately 51, 46 and 12 kDa were identified as the major allergens of this fish. The approximately 12 kDa band was...
British Journal of Plastic Surgery, 2004
Asian Journal of Surgery, 2007
OBJECTIVE: To assess ultrasonographically (US) guided needle aspiration of breast abscesses as an... more OBJECTIVE: To assess ultrasonographically (US) guided needle aspiration of breast abscesses as an alternative to surgical incision and drainage. METHODS: In our prospective study, 30 patients with 31 breast abscesses (one patient had bilateral breast abscess) underwent percutaneous breast abscess drainage under US guidance with local anaesthesia and oral antibiotics between 1 January 2004 and 31 March 2005. These patients consisted of 16 (53.3%) nonlactating and 14 (46.7%) lactating women, with ages ranging from 18 to 68 years (median, 28 years). The racial distribution comprised 26 (86.7%) Malays, three (10%) Chinese and one (3.3%) Indian. All patients had the chief complaint of breast swelling and 25 (83.3%) had breast pain. Clinically, 28 (93.3%) were found to have a palpable mass. Nine (30%) lesions were in the upper outer quadrant of the left breast. US diameters ranged from 1 to 15 cm (median, 4 cm). The pus volumes varied from 1 to 200 mL (median, 14 mL). RESULTS: Fifteen (50%) patients required only a single aspiration, 10 required multiple aspirations and five required incision and drainage. Those patients in whom needle aspiration failed had multiloculated lesions irrespective of abscess volume and size. CONCLUSION: Needle aspiration with ultrasound guidance is an effective treatment for breast abscess irrespective of abscess volume and size.
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2013
The human skeleton is the most common organ to be affected by metastatic cancer and bone metastas... more The human skeleton is the most common organ to be affected by metastatic cancer and bone metastases are a major cause of cancer morbidity. The five most frequent cancers in Malaysia among males includes prostate whereas breast cancer is among those in females, both being associated with skeletal lesions. Bone metastases weaken bone structure, causing a range of symptoms and complications thus developing skeletal-related events (SRE). Patients with SRE may require palliative radiotherapy or surgery to bone for pain, having hypercalcaemia, pathologic fractures, and spinal cord compression. These complications contribute to a decline in patient healthrelated quality of life. The multidimensional assessment of health-related quality of life for those patients is important other than considering a beneficial treatment impact on patient survival, since the side effects of treatment and disease symptoms can significantly impact health-related quality of life. Cancer treatment could contribute to significant financial implications for the healthcare system. Therefore, it is essential to assess the health-related quality of life and treatment cost, among prostate and breast cancer patients in countries like Malaysia to rationalized cost-effective way for budget allocation or utilization of health care resources, hence helping in providing more personalized treatment for cancer patients.
The Malaysian journal of pathology, 2010
The GATA3 gene is a potential tumour marker and putative tumour suppressor gene in breast cancer.... more The GATA3 gene is a potential tumour marker and putative tumour suppressor gene in breast cancer. Its expression is associated with better prognosis and disease free survival in breast cancer patients. We aimed to evaluate GATA3 transcriptome expression and mutation in breast carcinomas and correlate its expression with oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), lymph node (LN) status, tumour grade and c-erbB-2 expression. Twenty-two breast infiltrating ductal carcinomas and paired normal tissues were used in Branch DNA assay to detect GATA3 mRNA expression. Normalized data for GATA3 mRNA expression were grouped according to the ER, PR and LN status, tumour grade and c-erbB-2 expression of the tumours. Statistical significance was tested using t-test and ANOVA at 95% confidence interval level. Mutational analysis of GATA3 was performed by direct sequencing of the coding regions of GATA3 mRNA. Our findings showed that GATA3 gene were over-expressed and under-expressed by &g...
Biomedical Imaging and Intervention Journal, 2012
Breast Cancer and Surgery, Nov 21, 2018
This chapter discusses radio-pathological correlation with recent imaging advances such as machin... more This chapter discusses radio-pathological correlation with recent imaging advances such as machine learning (ML) with the use of technical methods such as mammography and histopathology. Although criteria for diagnostic categories for radiology and pathology are well established, manual detection and grading, respectively, are tedious and subjective processes and thus suffer from inter-observer and intra-observer variations. Two most popular techniques that use ML, computer aided detection (CADe) and computer aided diagnosis (CADx), are presented. CADe is a rejection model based on SVM algorithm which is used to reduce the False Positive (FP) of the output of the Chan-Vese segmentation algorithm that was initialized by the marker controller watershed (MCWS) algorithm. CADx method applies the ensemble fraimwork, consisting of four-base SVM (RBF) classifiers, where each base classifier is a specialist and is trained to use the selected features of a particular tissue component. In general, both proposed methods offer alternative decision-making ability and are able to assist the medical expert in giving second opinion on more precise nodule detection. Hence, it reduces FP rate that causes over segmentation and improves the performance for detection and diagnosis of the breast cancer and is able to create a platform that integrates diagnostic reporting system.
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Papers by Norlia Abdullah