Metastatic Breast Cancer or Multiple Myeloma? Camouflage by Lytic Lesions

Abstract

We report a case of a female with stage I infiltrating ductal carcinoma who received adjuvant therapy including trastuzumab. One year later she developed lytic lesions and was retreated with trastuzumab that was held after she developed symptomatic heart failure. Lytic lesions were attributed to relapse of breast cancer, and cardiac failure attributed to prior trastuzumab therapy. After complications necessitated multiple hospitalizations, a further workup revealed that the lytic lesions were not metastatic breast cancer but multiple myeloma. Her advanced multiple myeloma was associated with systemic amyloidosis involving gut and heart, which ultimately led to her demise. This report addresses the pitfalls of overlapping symptoms and the question of which patients with suspected metastatic disease should undergo a biopsy.