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D'Angelo et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:30 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2018.86 Metastasis and Treatment

Original Article Open Access

Breast cancer metastasis to the stomach

Francesco D'Angelo , Alessia Rampini , Silvia Cardella , Laura Antolino , Giuseppe Nigri , Stefano
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Valabrega , Paolo Aurello , Giovanni Ramacciato 1
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U.O.C. of General Surgery, "Sapienza" Università di Roma, Sant'Andrea University Hospital, Rome 00189, Italy.
Correspondence to: Dr. D'Angelo Francesco, U.O.C. of General Surgery, "Sapienza" Università di Roma, Sant'Andrea University
Hospital, via di Grottarossa 1035-1039, Rome 00189, Italy. E-mail: francesco.dangelo@uniroma1.it
How to cite this article: D'Angelo F, Rampini A, Cardella S, Antolino L, Nigri G, Valabrega S, Aurello P, Ramacciato G. Breast
cancer metastasis to the stomach. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:30. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2018.86
Received: 1 Dec 2018 First Decision: 24 Jan 2019 Revised: 1 Feb 2019 Accepted: 10 Feb 2019 Published: 17 Apr 2019

Science Editor: William P. Schiemann Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
Aim: This study focuses on the stomach as an unusual but not rare site of metastasis of breast cancer.

Methods: We performed a literature search on gastric metastasis from breast cancer searching for reviews from
2000 to 2018 and case reports from 2013 to 2018. We found 11 reviews and 36 case reports and we compared their
findings about important aspects of gastric metastasis, such as disease free survival, overall survival, symptoms,
endoscopic findings, therapy, histology, and immunohistochemistry.

Results: The incidence of stomach as site of metastasis of breast cancer ranges from 5% to 18%. Reviews and
case reports reached similar conclusions about several of the aforementioned aspects: invasive lobular breast
cancer (ILC) is mainly responsible for gastric metastases; disease free survival can vary greatly ranging from 0.5
months to 30 years; gastric metastases usually present with non-specific symptoms, even though five patients in
case reports were asymptomatic; linitis plastica is the most common endoscopic finding; immunohistochemistry
is essential for differentiating primary gastric cancer from metastasis; the preferred treatment is systemic therapy,
but surgery is still an option in case of emergency; median overall survival of patients with gastric metastasis from
breast cancer is 24 months.

Conclusion: Breast metastasis to the stomach should be considered in any patient suspecting gastric neoplasm
previously treated for breast carcinoma, especially if the treated carcinoma was ILC.

Keywords: Gastric metastasis, breast cancer, immunohistochemistry, stomach

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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