BREAST-CANCER METASTATIC TO THE UTERUS - CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF ARARE EVENT

Adenocarcinoma of the breast rarely metastasizes to the mucosal surfac es of the uterus. We present two patients with endometrial involvement , in one of whom it was the initial manifestation of her breast cancer . Two additional patients with cervical involvement had abnormal Papan icolaou smears and grossly normal cervices. One of these patients unde rwent a biopsy, the results of which confirmed metastatic adenocarcino ma. Three of the four patients had previously well-established metasta tic disease. The presence of genital, especially mucosal, metastases i s indicative of widespread disease and imminent demise. This occurred in one of the patients described here; however, another patient surviv ed 30 months. Breast cancer is a chronic disease for which the metasta tic behavior is exceptionally unconventional. Tissue acquired by endom etrial curettage or colposcopy may require an awareness on the part of the pathologist to such a clinical circumstance.