Open AccessTumour-to-tumour metastasis: breast carcinoma to an olfactory neuroblastoma
Author(s) -
Anthony Bashyam,
Viktoria Grammatopoulou,
Tim Crook,
Silvia Palma,
Vishnu Sunkaraneni
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
annals of the royal college of surgeons of england
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.39
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1478-7083
pISSN - 0035-8843
DOI - 10.1308/rcsann.2020.0038
Subject(s) - medicine , metastasis , skull , pathology , carcinoma , breast cancer , histology , cancer , surgery
Tumour-to-tumour metastasis is a rare phenomenon. It occurs when a primary tumour is a recipient of a separate tumour within the same individual. We present a case of a 66-year-old woman with known breast cancer who presented with one-sided nasal symptoms. Examination and imaging revealed a unilateral polyp arising from the skull base. She underwent endoscopic polypectomy with the histology demonstrating tumour-to-tumour metastasis from a breast carcinoma to an olfactory neuroblastoma, a rare sinonasal tumour. Clinicians should be cautious of distant metastases in any patient presenting with head and neck symptoms and a known primary tumour. This is the first documented case of this type.