Breast metastases from cutaneous melanoma - A report of three cases

In this report we describe three female patients with breast metastases fro m cutaneous melanoma (CM) who were treated in Slovenia in the period from 1 988 to 1991. We found that in 476 Slovenian patients with this disease diag nosed in the given period CM disseminated to the breast less frequently tha n in other series. In one pregnant and one perimenopausal patient breast in volvement by CM was confirmed at the time of widespread dissemination of th e disease. Treatment was not effective and the survival of these patients w as four months and two weeks and six months, respectively. A slightly bette r outcome was observed in a normally menstruating patient referred from ano ther country with an isolated solitary breast metastasis from CM. In this p atient quadrantectomy seemed to have been sufficient to achieve a disease-f ree interval of more than eight months. Special attention should therefore be given to a small subset of patients with isolated solitary breast metast ases from CM, since their prognosis may be less dismal than in patients wit h massively infiltrated breasts and disseminated disease.