Occult breast cancer presenting as axillary metastases

Occult Invasive Lobular Carcinoma Presenting as an Axillary Skin Metastatic Lesion Underwent Neoadjuvant Endocrine Therapy and Surgical Resection: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Introduction

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common type of breast cancer accounting for 5–15% of all breast cancer cases. It usually presents with nonspecific signs and symptoms. Occult breast cancer presenting as an axillary mass is rare, with prevalence of 0.3–1%, less likely with isolated cutaneous breast metastasis as a first presentation. There are limited data in the literature on patients who underwent endocrine therapy and complete surgical resection.

Case Presentation

A 54-year-old woman with left axillary skin swelling that had been persisting for 6 years was diagnosed with ILC 18 months ago presenting with an ulcerated axillary skin lesion and was managed with letrozole in another facility as she was estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) positive. She received letrozole for 18 months and had a partial response in the form of healing of the ulcer with persistent subcutaneous nodules. Her breast mammogram, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging findings were unremarkable; however, there were few prominent left axillary lymph nodes. A biopsy of the left axillary lymph node was positive for malignancy, consistent with ILC. A skin punch biopsy of the axillary skin lesion showed ILC extending to the dermis with no background breast tissue. The patient underwent left modified radical mastectomy with excision of the left axillary skin lesion. The breast specimen comprised 0.4 mm of ILC as the primary malignancy and nine positive axillary lymph node malignancies. The patient received adjuvant radiotherapy and continued to receive letrozole. There were no signs of complications or recurrence during the follow-up period.

Conclusion

Ulcerated skin lesions in the axilla should raise concerns regarding breast cancer metastasis. In cases of isolated cutaneous breast metastases, surgical excision can be considered in combination with endocrine therapy.

Axillary lymph node metastases from unknown primary: A French multicentre study

PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to investigate the management and prognosis of axillary cancers from unknown primaries (CUPax).

METHODS

We included all patients with lesions described as axillary nodal metastases from an unknown primary referred to four French tertiary breast cancer centres between January 1988 and December 2012. The inclusion criteria comprised: no sign of primary breast cancer on clinical examination nor on imaging (mammography, ultrasonography and breast MRI) and no primary tumour identified elsewhere.

RESULTS

CUPax represented 1.8% of all metastatic axillary lymphadenopathies in our institutions. The overall survival rate was 71%, and 16.7% of patients had secondary inflammatory breast cancer signalling a posteriori that CUPax originated from the breast. Factors that favourably affected survival according to univariate analysis were: histological type of non specific adenocarcinoma (versus other types, p = 0.02), only one lymph node involved (versus several, p = 0.04), a normal CA153 serum-level (p = 0.02), no distant metastasis at initial assessment (p = 0.02), no secondary distant metastasis (p = 0.005) and radiotherapy to the ipsilateral breast/chest wall/lymph nodes (p = 0.04). On multivariate analysis including these factors, a histological type of non-specific adenocarcinoma (p = 0.03) and distant metastases (p = 0.03) were identified as independent factors affecting survival.

CONCLUSION

We believe that these results will shed light on current investigations and treatment of this rare entity.

Perineural spread of salivary duct carcinoma to the internal auditory canal

Salivary duct carcinomas (SDCs) are high-grade malignant tumors exhibiting aggressive growth with early regional and distant metastasis. We report a case of SDC in a 63-year-old male with early recurrent disease in the cerebellopontine angle (CPA) after total parotidectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy. The tendency of the tumor to recur or metastasize despite radical surgical measures and radiotherapy continues to pose a therapeutic challenge.

Metachronous secondary primary occult breast cancer initially presenting with metastases to the contralateral axillary lymph nodes: report of a case

We report a rare case of a 64-year-old female with metachronous secondary primary left occult breast cancer initially presenting right axillary lymph node metastases. The patient, who had received breast-conserving therapy for left breast cancer at another hospital about 4.5 years ago, came to our hospital complaining of right axillary node swelling. After both breast and systemic examination, she received complete right axillary lymph node dissection. Just after the operation, she was diagnosed with right occult breast cancer by a review of the right axillary lymph nodes and previous left breast cancer. She was followed by radiation and systemic chemoendocrine therapies. One year after axillary lymph node dissection, mammography and ultrasonography showed a new lesion in her left breast. Core needle biopsy revealed similar findings to right axillary lymph node metastasis. After salvage surgery, the diagnosis was revised. We recommend that patients without clinical findings except for axillary lymph node metastasis, especially post-breast-conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy, should be considered not only as having ipsilateral but also contralateral occult breast cancer. If there is no evidence of a primary lesion, axillary lymph node dissection needs to be carried out, and the patient should be offered the choice of radiation therapy or mastectomy followed by proper systemic therapy.