Ovarian carcinoma metastatic to the breast and axillary node

Breast cancer is a common primary malignancy in women. On rare occasion the breast is also the site of metastatic disease. This report describes the evaluation of breast and axillary masses in a patient with known ovarian cancer, including the radiographic evaluation and special immunohistochemical stains with CA-125. Flow cytometric determinations and hormonal receptor analysis on both the primary and metastatic tumors demonstrate similar biologic characteristics. Both tumor sites demonstrated positive CA-125 staining, aneuploid DNA populations, moderately positive estrogen receptor content, and negative progesterone receptors. The mammogram demonstrated a well-circumscribed lesion with several areas of microcalcifications. Blood-borne metastasis from the ovary to the breast can show a varied clinical picture that can be differentiated from that of a primary breast carcinoma.