Colonic carcinomatosis due to lobular carcinoma of the breast: unusual case presentation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31053/1853.0605.v67.n2.23424Keywords:
tumor, metastasis, gastrointestinal tractAbstract
Gastrointestinal metastases are rare. May occur years after initial diagnosis and its symptoms are nonspecific, delaying its correct diagnosis and aggravating its prognosis. The most common histological subtype is lobular breast carcinoma. We present a 75-year-old woman with history of left mastectomy six years ago by infiltrating lobular carcinoma. She was treated with tamoxifen for five years. At present, there was no evidence of disease. She attended the hospital for intestinal subocclusion, being admitted for study. A barium enema revealed multiple strictures of the large bowel and a colonoscopy revealed an impassable stricture in the rectum-sigma. Due to the severity of symptoms, underwent total colectomy. The suspected diagnosis was Crohn's disease. The surgical specimen showed multiple stenosis of the light, with thickened wall and mucosa with granulations. Microscopic examination showed transmural infiltration of colonic wall by malignant cells CK7 positive and ER positive. Breast infiltrating lobular carcinoma has more special tendency to affect the digestive tract, even many years after the diagnosis of the primary tumor. In front of a patient with history of breast cancer and gastrointestinal symptoms, its mandatory to consider gastrointestinal metastases, making differential diagnosis with inflammatory bowel disease, infections or primary tumors, as the therapeutic actions are different.
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