Metastatic breast carcinoma presenting with multiple gingival epulides

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Oral Pathology

Background:

• Breast cancer diagnosis in young patients requires comprehensive staging.
• Metastatic disease can present with varied and sometimes atypical clinical manifestations.

Observation:

• A young patient with diagnosed breast cancer developed rapidly growing gingival epulides.
• The initial oral lesion appeared subsequent to a bone scan that showed no evidence of cancer dissemination.

Findings:

• The gingival epulides represented metastases from the primary breast cancer.
• Two additional metastatic lesions emerged in different oral locations within three weeks.

Implications:

• Gingival epulides can be an unusual presenting sign of breast cancer metastasis.
• This case underscores the importance of considering metastatic disease in oral lesions, even with initially negative staging scans.