Lobular Breast Carcinoma Metastasis to the Thyroid Gland: Case Report and Literature Review

Metastasis from primary cancer to the thyroid is uncommon in breast cancer. Here we present a case of lobular breast carcinoma that metastasized to the thyroid. A 54-year-old woman without symptoms was admitted to our institution for staging of the lymph node above the left clavicle. An 18F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography scan was performed for staging, and low uptakes were observed in the left supraclavicular and cervical lymph nodes. High uptake was seen in the posterior and lower left lobe of the thyroid. Histologic findings indicated lobular breast carcinoma (positive GATA3, loss of E-cadherin expression) metastatic to the thyroid with a luminal profile. Immunohistochemical analysis was negative for primary thyroid or parathyroid carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient presenting a metastatic invasive lobular carcinoma in the thyroid and lymph nodes without a prior diagnosis of breast cancer.

[1]  R. Davenport,et al.  Metastatic ductal carcinoma of the breast to the thyroid gland diagnosed with fine needle aspiration: A case report with emphasis on morphologic and immunophenotypic features , 2016, Diagnostic cytopathology.

[2]  H. Gharib,et al.  Metastasis to the Thyroid Gland: Report of a Large Series From the Mayo Clinic , 2015, American journal of clinical oncology.

[3]  Y. Nikiforov,et al.  Molecular approaches to thyroid cancer diagnosis. , 2014, Endocrine-related cancer.

[4]  Marc K Halushka,et al.  GATA3 expression in breast carcinoma: utility in triple-negative, sarcomatoid, and metastatic carcinomas. , 2013, Human pathology.

[5]  V. Nosé,et al.  Columnar cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma: a study of 10 cases with emphasis on CDX2 expression. , 2013, Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association.

[6]  M. Teresiak,et al.  Thyroid metastases from a breast cancer diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Case report and overview of the literature. , 2012, Experimental oncology.

[7]  T. Matteucci,et al.  [Thyroid metastasis of lobular breast carcinoma]. , 2012, Endocrinologia y nutricion : organo de la Sociedad Espanola de Endocrinologia y Nutricion.

[8]  Liang Cheng,et al.  Expression of PAX8 in Normal and Neoplastic Tissues: A Comprehensive Immunohistochemical Study , 2011, Applied immunohistochemistry & molecular morphology : AIMM.

[9]  I. Ellis,et al.  Lymph-node metastases in invasive lobular carcinoma are different from those in ductal carcinoma of the breast , 2011, Journal of Clinical Pathology.

[10]  M. Loda,et al.  A Comprehensive Analysis of PAX8 Expression in Human Epithelial Tumors , 2011, The American journal of surgical pathology.

[11]  L. Hao,et al.  Interobserver variability and aberrant E-cadherin immunostaining of lobular neoplasia and infiltrating lobular carcinoma , 2008, Modern Pathology.

[12]  T. Nicol,et al.  Metastatic breast carcinoma involving the thyroid gland diagnosed by fine‐needle aspiration: A case report , 2005, Diagnostic cytopathology.

[13]  Tae Yong Kim,et al.  Metastasis to the thyroid diagnosed by fine‐needle aspiration biopsy , 2005, Clinical endocrinology.

[14]  G. Hortobagyi,et al.  Invasive lobular carcinoma classic type: response to primary chemotherapy and survival outcomes. , 2005, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[15]  J. Thiery,et al.  Wide metastatic spreading in infiltrating lobular carcinoma of the breast. , 2004, European journal of cancer.