Lobular Carcinoma of the Breast Metastatic to the Spleen and Accessory Spleen: Report of a Case

Abstract

Despite the fact that accessory spleen (also known as supernumerary spleen, splenunculus, or splenule) can be found in 10–30% of patients undergoing autopsies, metastatic disease occurring in this organ has been barely reported. A case of lobular breast carcinoma metastatic to the spleen and accessory spleen found incidentally at therapeutic splenectomy for severe anemia and thrombocytopenia is described. On microscopic examination both organs revealed severe fibrocongestive changes and extramedullary hematopoiesis with no obvious carcinomatous involvement. Cytokeratin 7, estrogen receptors, and GATA3 immunohistochemistry disclosed the presence of numerous metastatic breast carcinoma cells infiltrating the splenic parenchyma. This case demonstrates that metastatic carcinoma can be encountered, although rarely, in accessory spleens and that cytokeratin stain should be performed in sections of spleens and/or accessory spleens excised from cancer patients in which the presence of malignant epithelial cells is not recognized on routine sections.

VIVA1: a more invasive subclone of MDA-MB-134VI invasive lobular carcinoma cells with increased metastatic potential in xenograft models

“…Despite the long latency, it is exciting to see that VIVA1 cells appear to have greater invasive abilities not only in vitro, but in vivo as well given our ability to detect macrometastases in 70% of animals at endpoint. It should be noted that the spleen, liver, bone, adrenal gland and ovary are relevant metastatic sites reported to occur in ILC patients [ 16 , 49 – 52 ] and were also metastatic sites reported in similar models using MDA-MB-134VI parental cells [ 48 ]. Although we did not see macrometastatic burden in mice injected with MDA-MB-134VI cells in our study, it should be noted that we injected approximately fivefold fewer cells per mammary gland than was used in the recently reported study using similar approaches [ 48 ].…”

Mucin-Producing Lobular Breast Carcinoma Metastasis to an Ovarian Fibroma: Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Analysis of a Rare Case and Literature Review

“…The loss of the adhesion molecule E-cadherin, a hallmark of ILC, is implicated in the dissemination of tumor cells to distant sites and the occurrence of bilateralism. Metastases from breast ILCs have been documented in the bones, lungs, pleura, soft tissue, and liver [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

“…Invasive breast carcinoma sites of metastases include the bones, brain, liver, lungs, and lymph nodes [6,[20][21][22]. Unusual locations like the gastrointestinal tract, uterus, ovary, peritoneum, retroperitoneum, bladder, spleen, and cervix can be involved in the metastatic spread of ILC [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Histologically, ILC has distinct morphologic features represented by round tumor cells lacking cohesion arranged in files, cords, and single cells that can also form targetoid patterns.…”

Synchronous Colonic Adenocarcinoma and Metastatic Lobular Carcinoma in a Colectomy Specimen: A Rare Finding

“…Extrahepatic GI tract metastasis involves more often the stomach and the small intestine and, very rarely, the colon and rectum [ 6 ]. Other rare metastatic sites include the appendix [ 7 ], endometrium [ 8 ], gallbladder [ 9 ], kidney [ 10 ], orbit [ 11 ], pancreas [ 12 ], parotid gland [ 13 ], spleen [ 14 ], urinary bladder [ 15 ], uterine cervix [ 8 ], uterus [ 16 ], and vulva [ 17 ].…”