Primary Neuroendocrine Carcinoma in the Breast: A Case Report

Abstract

Neuroendocrine (NE) carcinoma is derived from the NE cells that are scattered throughout all the organ systems, and these NE cells are particularly prevalent in the bronchopulmonary and gastrointestinal tract.(1) Primary NE carcinoma of the breast is extremely rare and it accounts for less than 0.1% of all breast carcinomas, less than 1% of all NE neoplasms in the body and only 0.1% of all breast cancers.(1) However, NE differentiation has also been described in a subset of patients with typical breast carcinoma and the clinical and histopathological features of these patients overlap with those of primary NE carcinoma.(2) Therefore, discriminating pure NE carcinoma of the breast from an ordinary breast carcinoma that shows NE differentiation in focal areas remains difficult.(3) Radiologicaly, it’ s hard to differentiate pure NE carcinoma from other breast cancers. The prognosis of pure NE carcinoma is better than that for most breast cancers except small cell neuroendocrine tumors. In this report, we present a new cas e of primary NE carcinoma in the breast, and we review the relevant literature with paying particular attention to the general morphological features and the treatment approaches.