Sarcoidosis mimicking metastatic breast cancer in a patient with early-stage breast cancer
Metin Altınkaya1, Naime Altınkaya2, Burhan Hazar3
1Clinic of General Surgery, Çukurova Dr. Aşkım Tüfekçi State Hospital, Adana, Turkey
2Clinic of Radiology, Başkent University Adana Research and Education Hospital, Adana, Turkey
3Clinic of Oncology, Private Adana Hospital, Adana, Turkey
Abstract
Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disorder of unknown origin that affects the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes in most patients. The coexistence of sarcoidosis and breast cancer has been reported. An unfortunate consequence of the presence of both entities in the same patient is the risk of misdiagnosis. We report the case of a 70-year-old female with T1N0 cancer of the right breast that was initially diagnosed as stage IV because of mediastinal positron-emission tomography -positive lymphadenopathy. Biopsy of a mediastinal lymph node allowed us to diagnose sarcoidosis and correctly stage her disease as stage I breast cancer.
Keywords: Breast cancer, sarcoidosis, positron-emission tomography/computed tomography, metastasis
Written informed consent was obtained from patient who participated in this case.
Externally peer-reviewed.
Concept - M.A., N.A.; Design - B.H.; Supervision - M.A.; Analysis and/or Interpretation - M.A., B.H.; Writer - N.A., M.A.; Critical Review - N.A., B.H.
No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.
The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.