Vertebral bone metastasis in breast cancer: a case report

We report here a case of a 66-year-old woman with a very aggressive form of breast carcinoma, having both liver and bone dissemination points.

The patient was admitted for a rapid onset disk-herniation-like syndrome, but which on further investigation proved to be in fact a metastatic case of breast cancer. We found evidence of disseminations at least in the lumbar vertebral bodies and the liver. Pathological analysis of the available vertebral metastasis revealed a HER2+ molecular pattern, accordingly to the newly evolving molecular typing of breast cancers. Despite a rapid treatment instauration, the patient reacted poorly to taxanes and octeoclast inhibitors, and died after less than 11 months from admitting to the hospital.

This is a rare case of an aggressive breast carcinoma identified initially after the vertebral metastases themselves that induced a non-specific symptomatology.