Solitary pancreatic metastasis from breast cancer: case report and review of literature

ABSTRACT CONTEXT: Pancreatic metastases from primary malignant tumors at other sites are rare, constituting about 2% of the neoplasms that affect the pancreas. Pancreatic metastasis from breast cancer is extremely rare and difficult to diagnose, because its clinical and radiological presentation is similar to that of a primary pancreatic tumor. CASE REPORT: A 64-year-old female developed a lesion in the pancreatic tail 24 months after neoadjuvant therapy, surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy for right-side breast cancer (ductal carcinoma). She underwent distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy and left adrenalectomy, and presented an uneventful outcome. The immunohistochemical analysis on the surgical specimen suggested that the lesion originated from the breast. CONCLUSION: In cases of pancreatic lesions detected in patients with a previous history of breast neoplasm, the possibility of pancreatic metastasis should be carefully considered.

背景：其他部位原发性恶性肿瘤发生胰腺转移的情况较为罕见，仅占胰腺肿瘤的约2%。其中乳腺癌胰腺转移极为少见，且诊断难度较高，原因在于其临床与影像学表现与原发性胰腺肿瘤极为相似。
病例报告：一名64岁女性患者，在接受右侧乳腺导管癌新辅助治疗、手术及辅助放疗后的24个月，于胰腺尾部出现病变。患者接受了远端胰腺切除术联合脾切除术及左肾上腺切除术，术后恢复顺利。手术标本的免疫组织化学分析显示，该病变起源于乳腺组织。
结论：对于有乳腺肿瘤既往史的患者检出胰腺病变时，应谨慎考虑胰腺转移瘤的可能性。