Korean J Gastroenterol.  2005 Dec;46(6):481-484.

A Case of Gastric Metastasis of Breast Carcinoma Resembling Early Gastric Cancer

• Hwang SY
• Ryu DY
• Park JH
• Lee DW
• Lee DH
• Kim TO
• Kim GH
• Heo J
• Kang DH
• Song GA
• Cho M
• Park DY

Abstract

Many patients suffering from breast carcinoma have metastases at initial diagnosis. The common metastatic sites are skeleton, liver and lung. Metastases to stomach are rare and only three cases have been reported in Korea. The endoscopic features of gastric metastases from breast carcinoma can be divided into three main categories: diffuse infiltration, external compression, and localized tumor deposition with ulceration or with a polypoid mass. However, metastatic gastric lesions which resemble early gastric carcinoma are rare. Typically, gastric metastases are confined to submucosa and muscularis, so that mucosal biopsy specimens might be false-negative. We report a case of gastric metastasis from infiltrative lobular carcinoma of the breast in a 66-year-old woman who had undergone left mastectomy with postoperative radiotherapy 17 years earlier. Initial diagnosis was early gastric carcinoma, signet ring cell type on gastric biopsy findings. However, definitive diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer was confirmed after endoscopic mucosal resection of a presumed primary early gastric carcinoma.

Keyword

Breast cancer; Gastric metastasis; Early gastric carcinoma; Endoscopic mucosal resection

MeSH Terms

Aged
Breast Neoplasms/*pathology
Carcinoma, Lobular/diagnosis/pathology/*secondary
Diagnosis, Differential
English Abstract
Female
Gastric Mucosa/pathology
Humans
Stomach Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology/*secondary