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Case Reports
. 2017 Nov;96(47):e8718.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000008718.

Rare metastasis to paranasal sinuses from triple-negative breast cancer: A case report and literature review

Jie Xiong  1 , Jing Chen, Liduan Zheng, Shengli Yang, Guifang Zhao, Jing Cheng
Affiliations
Case Reports

Rare metastasis to paranasal sinuses from triple-negative breast cancer: A case report and literature review

Jie Xiong et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Nov.

Abstract

Rationale: Breast cancer, the most common form of cancer among women, rarely metastases to the head and neck region. To date, there have been only 6 similar cases in the literature, and most patients in these reports had very poor prognosis.

Patients concerns: We report a 61-year-old female presented pain and numbness on the right side of the face 5 years after being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.

Diagnosis: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a tissue mass in the sphenoid sinus. The tissue biopsy confirmed metastasis of breast cancer.

Intervention: The patient received initial chemotherapy and radiotherapy plus 10 cycles of maintenance chemotherapy OUTCOMES:: The patient got long-term progression-free survival time. The total time to progression was 32 months.

Lessons: Although breast cancer rarely metastasizes to the head and neck region, awareness should be raised when breast cancer patients experience headache or have sinus-related symptoms. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy may be effective to treat paranasal sinus metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer, and patients may achieve long-term survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
T1-weighted image with contrast enhancement showing a soft tissue mass measuring 5.0 × 4.3 × 6.1 cm in the saddle area and 2 sided sphenoid sinus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Microscopic appearance of the neoplasm (hematoxylin-eosin, original magnification ×200).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Johnston J, George M, Karkos PD, et al. Late metastasis to macroscopically normal paranasal sinuses from breast cancer. Ecancermedicalscience 2013;7:298. - PMC - PubMed
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