Sarcoid-like reaction in breast cancer: a long-term follow-up series of eight patients.

PURPOSE: Finding an intrathoracic or axillary mass in a breast cancer patient should raise suspicion of a pulmonary or mediastinal nodal metastasis or axillary recurrence. Surprisingly, noncaseating epithelioid cell granuloma can be found in this type of lesion, as in sarcoidosis or a sarcoid-like reaction.

METHODS

This series included eight breast cancer patients in whom a late sarcoid-like reaction developed: as an intrathoracic lesion in six, and as an ipsilateral axillary lesion in two. The latency period from oncological surgery to the diagnosis of sarcoidosis was 40 months and the average follow-up after the diagnosis of sarcoidosis was 63.38 months.

RESULTS

None of the patients suffered relapse or oncological events during the period of this study.

CONCLUSION

To avoid misdiagnosis and overtreatment, pathological examination should always be carried out. We do not recommend any specific treatment for sarcoidosis in a breast cancer patient, but routine oncological follow-up is appropriate. A larger series with statistical analysis is necessary to evaluate the prognosis.