National Center for Advancing and Translational Sciences Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, a program of the National Center for Advancing and Translational Sciences

Kindler syndrome

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A young woman with Kindler syndrome recently developed breast cancer.  She will have surgery and needs radiation therapy. Is it safe to give radiation therapy considering she has Kindler syndrome?  Are there chemotherapy drugs that should be avoided?  Can she take trastuzumab? If she needs hormonal treatment, which medication may be the safest choice?
Unfortunately, there is limited information and no established guidelines for treatment for breast cancer in an individual with Kindler syndrome.  We identified only one reported case of breast cancer in a woman with this condition.  She was treated with chemotherapy, trastuzumab, and tamoxifen.  Because this patient experienced severe diarrhea during the chemotherapy treatments, her physicians suggest that chemotherapy may be more toxic for individuals with Kindler syndrome because the lining of the digestive tract may be more sensitive than usual because of this condition.[1]
Last updated: 11/14/2011

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  1. Tonyali O, Tufan G, Benekli M, Coskun U, Buyukberber S. Synchronous Bilateral Breast Cancer in a Patient With Kindler Syndrome. Clinical Breast Cancer. 2011; November 2:Epub ahead of print. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22054710. Accessed 11/11/2011.