Breast metastases of an ovarian adenocarcinoma

INTRODUCTION: Breast metastases are rare. Primary tumors are cutaneous, pulmonary, digestive and prostatic. A malignant tumor of the ovary is rarely responsible. OBSERVATION: A 69-year-old women presented a voluminous unilateral mastitis in a poly-metastatic context 3 years after the discovery of an ovarian adenocarcinoma. The anatomo-pathological examination confirmed the ovarian origin of the breast nodules observed. Progression was poor and the patient died 8 months after the first clinical signs in the breast. COMMENTS: The difficulty in differentiating a primary from a secondary carcinomatous mastitis is enhanced when the primary cancer is unknown. In our patient, the immunohistochemical study did not discriminate between the breast and ovarian origin. The diagnosis was finally made on the basis of standard histology and the anatomoclinical correlation. Since immunohistochemical examinations may not be specific enough, such as was the case in our patient, the anatomoclinical confrontation is essential.