All vertebral body metastases of breast cancer: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Objective: Investigating the clinical and imaging features of bone metastasis in breast cancer, in order to raise early diagnosis level and to avoid misdiagnosis.

Materials and methods: An analysis of imaging of breast cancer bone metastasis by consulting relevant literatures. The authors also performed bone biopsy in the patient presented.

Results: Biopsy results show that ductal carcinoma can be seen in bone marrow and in immune markers CK (+) and CD68 (-).

Conclusion: Multiple systemic metastases are common for breast cancer, but it is rare that one patient has metastasis in all vertebrae. The positive rate of ordinary X-ray is lower than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for detecting bone metastasis, but if an accurate diagnosis is to be made, all the imaging and clinical data should be combined.