A case report of metastatic breast cancer initially presenting with esophageal dysphagia
Ailing Liu1, Yunlu Feng1, Bo Chen2
1Department of Gastroenterology.
Rationale:
Breast cancer metastasis to the esophagus is uncommon. To our knowledge, the present case is the first report of breast cancer with dysphagia as the initial symptom.
Patient Concerns:
A 62-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital for progressive dysphagia.
Diagnoses:
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy of the esophageal lesion found poorly differentiated carcinoma, and surgical resection of the breast nodule revealed invasive ductal carcinoma.
Interventions:
The patient underwent an esophagectomy, and the immunohistochemistry of surgical specimen was identified as metastatic breast cancer. Then patient was treated with chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
Outcomes:
The patient remained symptom-free during 5 months of follow-up examinations.
Lessons:
This case indicates that metastatic breast cancer to the esophagus should be considered as a cause of esophageal stricture in older women.
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