Use of Endoscopic Ultrasound in a Diagnostic Dilemma: Metastatic Breast Cancer to the Stomach

Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine
Laura L UlmerAlexander T Hewlett

Abstract

A 55-year-old woman presented with persistent nausea, vomiting, and weight loss previously attributed to Ménétrier's disease. On further workup, she was found to have metastatic lobular breast carcinoma causing gastric outlet obstruction, diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration after previous gastric mucosal biopsies were unremarkable. In most reported cases of gastric metastasis from breast cancer, a diagnosis was established by mucosal biopsy. This case is an important reminder that mucosal biopsies can be negative in about 20% of patients with gastric metastasis, which may lead to a delay in diagnosis and treatment. Gastroenterologists should be diligent in taking deeper biopsies if there is a suspicion for gastric metastasis.

References

Apr 16, 2004·Breast Cancer Research : BCR·Grazia ArpinoRichard M Elledge
Aug 2, 2005·Nature Reviews. Cancer·Britta WeigeltLaura J van 't Veer
Aug 9, 2005·Gastric Cancer : Official Journal of the International Gastric Cancer Association and the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association·Lisa A WhittyCharles R Thomas
Oct 13, 2006·World Journal of Gastroenterology : WJG·Jose NazarenoHarold-G Preiksaitis
May 17, 2011·The American Journal of Medicine·Monica RusticeanuVincent Zimmer
May 28, 2011·Digestive and Liver Disease : Official Journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver·Maher M AlmubarakPascale Mariani
Jul 31, 2013·Surgery Today·Tsutomu Namikawa, Kazuhiro Hanazaki

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
biopsies
biopsy

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