Pulmonary sarcoidosis simulating metastatic breast cancer

Abstract

The clinical appearance and imaging findings of sarcoidosis and breast carcinoma may sometimes mimic one another, making the differential diagnosis between these two diseases difficult in some cases. A 69-year-old woman displayed an irregular shaped lesion in her left breast. Preoperative localization modalities detected a breast mass with malignant characters. The patient also was found to have pulmonary findings for metastatic disease on chest computed tomography. These features were proven upon biopsy to be consistent with sarcoidosis. The patient underwent breast surgery, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy and hormonal therapy, while corticosteroids were administered for pulmonary sarcoidosis. The patient is well 12 months later, without recurrence. An unfortunate consequence of the presence of both entities in the same patient is the risk of misguided differential diagnosis and incorrect therapeutic strategy. This patient shows the importance of confirming a clinical diagnosis of sarcoidosis with appropriate biopsies and histological examination, prior to initiation of breast cancer therapy.