Ground-Glass Opacity in Lung Metastasis from Breast Cancer: A Case Report

Abstract

A 43-year-old woman with breast cancer who was on neoadjuvant chemotherapy presented with cough, sputum and mild fever. High-resolution computed tomography showed diffuse ground glass opacities in bilateral lungs and subpleural patchy consolidations. Initially, she was thought to have pneumonia or interstitial lung diseases such as drug-induced pneumonitis and treated with antibiotics and steroids. She subsequently got breast cancer surgery because of disease progression, and concurrent thoracoscopic lung biopsy revealed metastatic carcinoma of the lung from breast cancer. The diagnosis of suspected interstitial lung disease can be made without lung biopsy, but malignancy should always be considered and lung biopsy should be performed in the absence of a definitive clinical diagnosis.

Utility of whole exome sequencing analysis in differentiating intrapulmonary metastatic multiple ground-glass nodules (GGNs) from multiple primary GGNs

“…As a result, 2 of 19 patients were identified as having possible intrapulmonary metastatic GGNs, suggesting that early metastasis may exist in GGNs. Clinical evidence of metastatic GGN from lung [8,9] and other organs [10][11][12][13][14] has also been reported. According to the Fleischner guidelines [24], multiple GGNs are considered as multiple primaries, and are routinely treated as independent primary tumors.…”

“…Clinical evidence of metastasis with GGNs has been reported, including pulmonary metastasis [8,9] and distant metastasis [10][11][12][13][14]. At present, a few studies have been focused on whether multiple GGNs were multiple primaries or intrapulmonary metastasis [15][16][17][18], most of which were based on the targeted genes [15][16][17], and only one study was based on genomics [18].…”

Pulmonary metastasis presenting as a ground glass opacity-like lesion with a thin-walled cavity: A case report

“…GGO-like metastases from some malignant tumors such as breast cancer [2] or malignant melanoma [3] are rarely reported. The microscopic findings of GGO shows a proliferation of metastatic cells from breast cancer or a malignant melanoma in a lepidic-like fashion.…”

Bronchoalveolar carcinoma as an unsuspected cause for worsening shortness of breath in a patient with metastatic breast cancer

“…When multiple lobes are affected, infectious processes such as PCP, or non-infectious processes such as drug toxicity should be considered 6. Ground-glass opacities within the lungs can be caused by several disease processes including pneumonia, pneumonitis, fibrosis or pre-malignant/malignant conditions such as atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and invasive adenocarcinoma 7. In this case, CT of her chest showed consolidation and multifocal bilateral upper zone ground-glass opacities, most notably in the left lung, which made it difficult to narrow the differential.…”