INTESTINAL METASTASES FROM BREAST CANCERS - REPORT OF 8 CASES

Eight patients with intestinal metastases from breast cancer are descr ibed. The different clinical presentations and pathological types are studied. The difficulty in distinguishing such uncommon secondary site s of breast cancer from primary intestinal cancer is emphasized. Atten tion should be paid to intestinal symptoms in women with a history of infiltrating lobular breast cancer : in agreement with recent literatu re data the lobular type seems mainly responsible for gastrointestinal and peritoneal involvement originating from breast cancer (7 cases ou t of 8 in our series). Prolonged survival could be obtained if no meta stases elsewhere were found with appropriate treatment including ablat ive surgery, chemotherapy and hormonotherapy.