Gastric metastasis of bilateral breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. The most frequent metastatic sites are lung, bone, liver and brain. On the other hand, gastric metastases are rare. Synchronous bilateral breast cancer (SBBC) occurs rarely. Lobular carcinoma is the histological type most often associated with bilateral breast carcinomas and gastric metastases. We made a retrospective study including four patients followed in the Salah Azaiez Institute, for a bilateral breast cancer with gastric metastases. We analyzed the epidemiological, anatomoclinical and therapeutic particularities of this rare entity. Symptoms were unspecific. The diagnosis of gastric metastasis of the SBBC was confirmed by a histopathological examination of an endoscopic biopsy. The median age was 46.2 years (range, 36-51 years) and the median time until the gastric involvement was 19 months (range, 0-41 months). None of patients had a surgical treatment for the gastric location. All Patients received at least one line of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Median survival following the detection of gastric involvement was 22 months (range, 1-56 months). Gastric metastases from breast cancer are rare and frequently associated with other distant metastasis. Symptoms are unspecific and endoscopy may not be contributive. Therefore, gastric involvement is underestimated. Lobular infiltrating carcinoma (LIC) is the most histological type incriminated in its occurrence. The supply of immunohistochemistry is crucial to distinguish between primary or metastatic gastric cancer.