[Critical analysis of the long-term management of a case of cancer of the breast]

Chir Ital. 2006 May-Jun;58(3):377-81.
[Article in Italian]

Abstract

We describe a case of gastric metastases from a lobular carcinoma of the breast in a 73-year-old woman who had undergone a left mastectomy with axillary dissection 15 years earlier. The initial diagnosis was diffuse-type gastric carcinoma as evaluated both by analysis of gastric biopsy findings and ultrasonographic endoscopy. The definitive diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer was confirmed after subtotal gastrectomy for a presumed primary gastric carcinoma and was obtained using a panel of specific immunohistochemical markers. The distinction between primary and secondary gastric malignancies in patients with a history of lobular breast carcinoma may not be merely an academy exercise, since the treatment and prognosis of the two situations are different.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / surgery
  • Carcinoma, Lobular / diagnosis
  • Carcinoma, Lobular / secondary*
  • Carcinoma, Lobular / surgery
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary* / diagnosis
  • Stomach Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Stomach Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Time Factors