CARCINOID-TUMOR METASTATIC TO THE BREAST

Breast metastases from nonmammary malignant neoplasms are uncommon, ac counting for approximately 2% of breast tumors. There are 13 cases rep orted in the literature of carcinoid tumor metastatic to the breast, a nd more than half of these cases were misdiagnosed pathologically and treated as primary breast carcinoma, even in cases with a medical reco rd of carcinoid tumor. We describe a patient with a history of asthma and diarrhea who presented to the University of Arkansas for Medical S ciences, Little Rock, with an exacerbation of the asthma. The results of routine physical examination revealed a mass in the left breast. A diagnosis of carcinoid tumor metastatic to the breast was made after a partial mastectomy was performed. The differential diagnosis between primary carcinoid tumor of the breast and carcinoid tumor metastatic t o the breast is often controversial in surgical pathology. Diagnoses n eed to be made correlating clinical and histological examination in di fficult cases in which there is not a diagnosis of carcinoid tumor els ewhere. Accurate diagnosis of breast metastases is important to avoid unnecessary treatment.