Occurrence of synchronous invasive lobular breast carcinoma and poorly differentiated ovarian carcinoma in a single peritoneal deposit.

The synchronous occurrence of breast and ovarian cancers within individual omental metastases has not been reported in the available medical literature. We report such a finding in a patient with previously diagnosed invasive lobular carcinoma of the right breast. After 5 years of surveillance and disease-free interval, there was development of ovarian cancer, ascites and peritoneal metastases. Ultrasound-guided biopsy of a peritoneal metastasis confirmed dual histology from breast and ovarian carcinoma. Despite the presence of a prolonged disease-free survival from the primary breast cancer, the subsequent finding of advanced ovarian cancer highlights the potential diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas which persist in the management of these patients. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel