Metastasis of the gallbladder from the breast cancer

Metastatic lesions of the gallbladder are an infrequent clinical condition. The metastatic lesions of gallbladder from primary breast tumors are rarely described in literature.

We report a case of an 83-year-old woman who underwent cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis by video laparoscopy (VL), and in whom a metastatic lesion was detected at the histological examination of surgical specimen. For this reason, the patient was subjected to diagnostic-instrumental investigation with the aim of detecting the primary tumor, which showed the presence of infiltrating lobular carcinoma, pleomorphic variety, in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast.

Breast cancer and in particular the histological type "ductal infiltrating" is frequently associated with locoregional and distant metastases, the latter especially to bones, liver, lungs and central nervous system. An analysis of literature was conducted on secondary lesions of the gallbladder from breast cancer that has allowed us to confirm the rarity of this disease only described in 18 patients: 12 from infiltrating lobular, 1 ductal origin and 2 mixed ductal and lobular infiltrating.

The most frequent tumor histology associated with the above-mentioned metastatic localization is the metastatic infiltrating lobular carcinoma. Clinically speaking, it is difficult to suspect a metastatic localization from primary breast cancer in the gallbladder, but it is necessary to be well aware of the possibility of metastasis and to bear this in mind during the follow-up of patients with breast cancer. Although cholecystectomy is regarded as a palliative treatment in patients with metastasis in the gallbladder from breast cancer, it is intead recommended in symptomatic cases.