Breast carcinoma metastatic to the gallbladder

Case Report: Metastatic breast cancer to the gallbladder

Cholecystitis is one of the leading causes of emergency surgical interventions; the occurrence of metastases to the gallbladder is rare and has only been reported in the literature exceptionally. Metastatic breast cancer to the gallbladder is even less frequent; in fact, breast cancer usually metastasizes to bone, lung, lymph nodes, liver and brain. We report the case of an 83-year-old female patient with a previous history of breast surgery with axillary dissection in 1997, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy due to invasive ductal carcinoma of the left breast. The patient was admitted at the emergency department for sepsis and an episode of acute kidney failure, anuria and fever. Right-upper quadrant abdominal pain triggered by food intake and abdominal tenderness was also present, placing the diagnostic suspicion of biliary sepsis due to acute cholecystitis. The histological examination of the surgical specimen highlighted the presence of metastasis from an infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma with positive hormone receptors. We also report here the results of a review of the literature looking at articles describing cases of gallbladder metastasis from breast cancer.

Patient with metastatic breast cancer presenting as acute cholecystitis with one-year survival on hormonotherapy

Breast cancer has high metastatic potential with distant metastases involving mainly lungs, liver and bones. Less frequently it gives distant spread to other organs. Herein we would like to present a very rare case of an acute cholecystitis which turned out to be a metastatic breast cancer in previously healthy woman. A female patient, 64-years old, presented to the emergency department with symptoms of biliary colic and acute abdomen. During the emergency cholecystectomy, we diagnosed the gallbladder empyema with thickened wall. There were also multiple metastatic nodules in the peritoneal cavity and an excessive amount of free fluid. The emergency physicians diagnosing female patient with the acute abdominal symptoms and a breast cancer history might suspect malignant spread into abdominal organs including gallbladder. On the other hand, acute cholecystitis symptoms might be the first symptoms of metastatic process in the gallbladder from the unknown primary source, which may be breast.

Indications and recommended approach for surgical intervention of metastatic disease to the gallbladder

Metastatic disease to the gallbladder is unusual. The most common malignancy metastatic to the gallbladder is melanoma, followed by renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and breast cancer. Due to the unusual nature of the disease, there are no trials available for review. Thus, the management for these patients has been based on institutional experience and review of case series. The indications for surgical intervention for melanoma are metastatic disease discrete to the gallbladder and biliary symptoms, which are uncommon for melanoma, but might occur due to cystic duct obstruction culminating in cholecystitis. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy without a lymphadenectomy is emerging as the preferred approach for this metastatic deposit. The vast majority of patients with metastases to the gallbladder from RCC carry a good prognosis and a laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be considered. Patients with metastases to the gallbladder from the breast classically present with biliary symptoms and commonly undergo a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which invariably demonstrates a deposit in the gallbladder from lobular breast cancer. In the present report, we review the indications for surgical intervention from various malignancies metastatic to the gallbladder and the current consensus for the laparoscopic approach from the diverse metastatic deposits to the gallbladder.

Bilateral synchronous breast carcinomas followed by a metastasis to the gallbladder: a case report

Background

Breast cancer is usually associated with metastases to lungs, bones and liver. Breast carcinoma metastasizing to the gallbladder is very rare.

Case presentation

A 59-year-old woman presented with bilateral synchronous breast lesions. A palpable, retroareolar solid lesion of diameter equal to 5 cm was present in the right breast, and a newly developed, non-palpable lesion with microcalcifications (diameter equal to 0.7 cm) was present in the upper outer quadrant of the left breast. Modified radical mastectomy was performed on the right breast and lumpectomy after hook-wire localization was performed on the left breast, combined with lymph node dissection in both sides. The pathological examination revealed invasive lobular carcinoma grade II in the right breast and invasive ductal carcinoma grade I in the left breast. Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, trastuzumab and letrozole were appropriately administered. At her 18-month follow-up, the patient was free of symptoms; the imaging tests (chest CT, abdominal U/S, bone scan), biochemical tests, blood cell count and tumor markers were also normal. At the 20th month after surgery however, the patient developed symptoms of cholecystitis and underwent cholecystectomy. The histopathological examination revealed metastasis of the lobular carcinoma to the gallbladder.

Conclusion

This extremely rare case confirms on a single patient the results of large series having demonstrated the preferential metastasis of lobular breast cancer to the gallbladder. Symptoms of cholecystitis should not be neglected in such patients, as they might indicate metastasis to the gallbladder.

Gallbladder metastases from ductal papillary carcinoma of the breast

Breast cancer occurs primarily in women aged 25 years or older. Breast carcinoma has the potential for widespread dissemination, such as metastasis to axillary lymph nodes, bone, lung, pleura, brain, and soft tissues. Liver, gastrointestinal, and biliary tract involvement are infrequent. We report a patient, a 62-year-old woman, with symptomatic cholelithiasis. The patient proceeded to laparoscopic cholecystectomy. She had a previous history of mastectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy, performed for a breast ductal papillary carcinoma, 10 years prior to the cholecystectomy. The gallbladder was hydropic; the wall was thickened, with a focal broad-based lesion on the mesenteric face of the body. Histopathological evaluation of the focal broad-based lesion of the gallbladder revealed poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma infiltration, without mucosal involvement. Subsequent immunohistochemical examination showed the lesion to be cytokeratin 7(CK7)-positive and cytokeratin 20 (CK20)-negative. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) were positive. The final pathological diagnosis was breast ductal papillary carcinoma metastases to the gallbladder. Mammography of the other breast was normal. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain, chest, abdomen, and pelvis was performed, without any pathological findings. Bone Tc-99 scintigraphy was normal. Six months after the surgery positron emission tomography (PET) showed no evidence of metastatic disease. Two years after the surgery, the patient died, in the absence of recurrence. A literature review revealed only a few more cases of metastasic breast carcinoma to the gallbladder.