Metastatic Deposits of Breast Lobular Carcinoma to Small Bowel and Rectum

• Main Authors: W. Eljabu, G. Finch, J. Nottingham, N. Vaingankar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2011-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Breast Cancer
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/413949

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women accounting for approximately 32% of all cancers, with a lifetime risk of 1 in 10. It causes considerable morbidity and mortality. Recently, the survival rate has dramatically increased due to early detection of the disease and improvement in the treatment measures. However, more than 30% of the patients develop metastatic diseases following surgical treatment, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, or chemotherapy. Distant spread is usually found in bones, lungs, liver, brain and skin. Rarely, it spreads to bowel, spleen, gallbladder, pancreas, urinary bladder, and eyes. Breast cancer is the second commonest primary tumour responsible for gastrointestinal metastases after malignant melanoma. We report a case of a Caucasian female who developed an intestinal obstruction secondary to metastatic deposits to the small bowel and later to the rectum from breast lobular carcinoma 2 years after mastectomy, axillary clearance, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, and transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap for reconstruction.