Eye metastasis in breast cancer: case report and review of literature

Abstract

The paradigm of breast cancer management has been revolutionised, resulting in prolonged survival that echoes an increasing incidence of metastasis in uncommon sites. With orbital metastases – despite being rare – the incidence scales up to 13% of breast cancer cases with no specific management guidelines. We report a case of a 31-year-old luminal B breast cancer patient who initially presented with T2N2M0 disease and received six cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy (5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) 600 mg/m2 IV, Doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 IV, Cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 IV), followed by radiotherapy (RTH) and adjuvant Tamoxifen. Two years later, the patient experienced successive bone metastasis, so she received several lines of endocrine therapy as Fulvestrant and aromatase inhibitors in combination with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues. Later on, she presented with right eye ptosis and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a soft tissue mass in the superior and lateral rectus muscles. The patient received six cycles of chemotherapy with no improvement. Further disease progression occurred 3 months later, so the patient received palliative RTH resulting in no response. One month later, the patient was deceased, secondary to progressive disease. With the rising incidence of ocular metastasis due to breast cancer, oncologists should be aware of symptoms and use the proper diagnostic modalities. Here we provide a literature review on similar cases and discuss possible treatment modalities for those patients. The main concern is to evaluate the need for chemotherapy in such cases in the presence of highly effective endocrinal treatment.