[A case of occult breast cancer successfully treated by capecitabine in combination with weekly paclitaxel followed by FEC (75)].

A 78-year-old woman was referred to our hospital complaining of a hard nodule on the left side of her neck. Histological examination of this nodule showed metastatic carcinoma from breast cancer. Further examination revealed paraaortic lymph node swelling and no breast tumors. We diagnosed her tumors as occult breast cancer and its metastasis to lymph nodes (cT0N3cM1, Stage IV). We used weekly paclitaxel followed by a FEC75 regimen. The neck nodule size did not change after administration twice. We added capecitabine to the weekly paclitaxel, which had decreased the size of the nodule immediately. After this chemotherapy, PET-CT revealed that the lymph node metastasis had disappeared completely. It was considered that the addition of capecitabine in the early phase of the regimen was useful for this case.