Neuroendocrine Tumor Metastases to the Breast: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Jose A Urrego Díaz; Marcela González; Alfredo Ernesto Romero-Rojas; Jonathan Strosberg; Paola Jiménez-Vásquez

doi:10.7759/cureus.40703

Neuroendocrine Tumor Metastases to the Breast: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Cureus. 2023 Jun 20;15(6):e40703. doi: 10.7759/cureus.40703. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Jose A Urrego Díaz¹, Marcela González², Alfredo Ernesto Romero-Rojas³, Jonathan Strosberg⁴, Paola Jiménez-Vásquez⁵

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, COL.
² Radiology, Instituto de Diagnóstico Médico (IDIME), Bogotá, COL.
³ Pathology, Los Cobos Medical Center, Bogotá, COL.
⁴ Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, USA.
⁵ Gastrointestinal and Neuroendocrine Tumors, Centro de Tratamiento e Investigación Sobre Cáncer Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo (CTIC), Bogotá, COL.

Abstract

Breast metastases from neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are considered infrequent. We report a case of a patient with ileocecal neuroendocrine tumor (NET) metastases to both breasts, for whom the initial clinical presentation was chronic diarrhea. Breast metastasis was initially suspected by a 68-Gallium DOTANOC positron emission tomography (PET)/CT and was confirmed by histopathology. We also performed a literature review in which we identified 116 cases of NENs metastatic to the breast reported so far. Most cases occurred in older women, were caused by NETs, and had the gastrointestinal tract as the primary site.

Keywords: breast; case reports; cecum; gallium ga 68 dotatate; ileum; neoplasm metastasis; neuroendocrine tumors.

Publication types

Case Reports