A Case of Breast Cancer Found from Recurrent Facial Palsy

Abstract

We often come across cases of peripheral facial palsy, most of which can be cured with medication. We report herein on a case of breast cancer, found in a patient with recurrent facial palsy. A seventy-year-old female with facial palsy was cured once, but a few weeks later, facial palsy occurred again. We suspected a tumor as the cause of the recurrent facial palsy. We examined the patient with temporal bone CT and head MRI imaging and found a mass region with bone destruction on images of the temporal bone. When we did an excisional biopsy under general anesthesia, we unexpectedly identified the mass as a locally advanced breast cancer. Finally the patient was diagnosed as having a peripheral facial palsy caused by a metastatic tumor from breast cancer. Breast cancer associated with facial palsy is rare, but when the facial palsy recurs or occurs slowly, with facial spasm or with otitis media with effusion, we should consider the existence of a tumor, especially metastatic tumor from breast or lung cancer.