Abstract
A 58-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital in March 2011 with dyspnea caused by cardiac tamponade. Pericardiocentesis was performed and cytological analysis of the effusion showed malignant cells. The patient had previously undergone mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection after being diagnosed with left breast cancer in 1995. She had also undergone lumpectomy and chemoradiation for local recurrence in the chest wall in 1998 and 2001. Consequently, we diagnosed her with metastatic pericarditis from breast cancer.
She had been admitted for ileus several times since 2010. In April 2011, the ileus relapsed and her CT scan showed stenosis of the small intestine. The stenotic lesion was resected, and the patient was diagnosed with metastasis from breast cancer on the basis of pathological analysis.
In May 2011, the patient experienced cardiac tamponade relapse, and thoracoscopic pericardiectomy was performed. After these surgeries, she was treated with hormone therapy and has not experienced recurrence to date.
Metastases from breast cancer usually do not require surgical management. However, life-threatening symptoms induced by metastasis should be treated by surgery in some cases. This case, wherein surgery was performed twice for metastases and the patient experienced cardiac tamponade and small intestine obstruction within the span of a few months, might be rare. Surgical procedures can help provide a good quality of life to such patients.
