Breast mass in a patient with ovarian cancer: a case report.

BACKGROUND

Less than 1% of malignant breast masses represent metastases from an extramammary source. Gynecologic tumors rarely metastasize to the breast. We report 2 patients who developed a breast mass following a known diagnosis of metastatic ovarian carcinoma or primary peritoneal carcinoma.

CASE REPORTS: A 28-year-old woman receiving therapy for recurrent ovarian cancer developed a breast mass with pleomorphic calcifications that was an ovarian cancer metastasis. A 61-year-old woman with primary peritoneal carcinomatosis developed a new primary breast tumor expressing CA 125 at the end of adjuvant therapy for peritoneal cancer.

CONCLUSION

Treatment and prognosis for metastatic and primary breast lesions are different, therefore accurate differentiation using radiographic and pathologic criteria is essential. We describe unique features of primary and metastatic breast lesions in patients with ovarian cancer.