Cranial nerve palsies in metastatic breast cancer due to osseous metastasis without intracranial involvement.

Between August 1972 and March 1981, ten patients with metastatic breast cancer presented to M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute at Houston Medical Breast Clinic with cranial nerve palsies (incidence, 0.13%). Eight of ten patients had extensive metastases at the base of the skull that was causing cranial nerve compression. Two patients had no bone involvement and were suspected to have soft tissue disease, one retro-orbitally and the other at the base of the skull. None of the patients had evidence of intracranial disease. The most frequently affected cranial nerves were V and VII, with 70% and 60% of patients having palsies of these nerves respectively. The estimated median survival of the patients from time of onset of cranial nerve palsy was 20 months; the palsies improved in 50% of patients who received regional therapy.