Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Respirol. Mar 28, 2017; 7(1): 29-34
Published online Mar 28, 2017. doi: 10.5320/wjr.v7.i1.29
Synchronous lung and breast cancer
Joana Espiga de Macedo
Joana Espiga de Macedo, Department of Medical Oncology, Centro Hospitalar de Entre o Douro e Vouga, 4520-211 Santa Maria Da Feira, Portugal
Author contributions: The author contributed to this manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Oncology Department of Centro Hospitalar entre Douro e Vouga, Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Joana Espiga de Macedo has received fees for serving as a speaker, such as consultant and/or an advisory board member for Celgene, Merck and Roche, Lilly; Bristol Meyers Squibb.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Joana Espiga de Macedo, MD, Consultant of Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Centro Hospitalar de Entre o Douro e Vouga, Rua Dr. Cândido de Pinho, 4520-211 Santa Maria Da Feira, Portugal. joanamacedo@hotmail.com
Telephone: +351-93-6050138 Fax: +351-25-6373867
Received: September 7, 2016
Peer-review started: September 9, 2016
First decision: October 20, 2016
Revised: December 1, 2016
Accepted: December 16, 2016
Article in press: December 19, 2016
Published online: March 28, 2017
Processing time: 202 Days and 0 Hours
Abstract

Synchronous tumors are an uncommon finding. We present a case of metastatic carcinoma of right breast and a left lung adenocarcinoma in a patient with previous history of left breast cancer diagnosed twelve years ago. She was then treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy. Initially, the greatest diagnostic challenge was which of them had spread or if both had. Or even if, any of these lesions resulted from the primary left breast cancer. So, specimens of different metastatic lesions were crucial to answer this query and to decide the best therapeutic approach. Sequencing the treatment options in managing two synchronous secondary malignancies, where one of them is metastatic and the other one is potentially curable, was a demanding clinical decision.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Non-small cell lung cancer; Synchronous tumors

Core tip: This case presents a patient with previous left breast cancer in the past that now has a diagnosis of right breast cancer. The staging exams revealed metastatic lesions on bone and left adrenal gland and a suspicious lesion on the left lung. Histology of those lesions allowed us to conclude there were a metastatic breast cancer and a localized lung cancer.