Okudan Berna, Seven Bedri, Yıldırım Aslıhan, Albayrak Aynur
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ankara City Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Sabuncuoğlu Şerefeddin Training and Research Hospital, University of Amasya, Amasya, Turkey.
Curr Med Imaging. 2024;20:e15734056279419. doi: 10.2174/0115734056279419240216093312.
Atypical carcinoid (AC) is one of the rarest lung neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) that rarely metastasize to the breast, and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with somatostatin analogs (SSAs) labeled with Gallium-68 (68Ga) now represents the gold standard for diagnosis and management of NETs. A case of an unusual metastasis to the breast from an AC detected by 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT was reported.
A 73-year-old woman was presented with a right breast lesion found on mammography screening, which revealed a metastatic neuroendocrine tumor by histopathological analysis with a tru-cut biopsy. Subsequently, 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT imaging performed for the initial evaluation showed increased radiotracer uptake in the lesion in the right breast as well as the nodular lesion in the middle lobe of the right lung, which was histologically confirmed to be AC.
Metastasis of uncommon AC of the lung to the breast is extremely rare. However, it is essential to properly differentiate metastatic tumors from primary disease due to differences in clinical management and prognosis, and 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT is a unique diagnostic tool with the advantage of whole-body imaging.
非典型类癌（AC）是最罕见的肺神经内分泌肿瘤（NETs）之一，很少转移至乳腺，文献中仅报道了少数病例。正电子发射断层扫描/计算机断层扫描（PET/CT）结合用镓-68（68Ga）标记的生长抑素类似物（SSAs）现在是NETs诊断和管理的金标准。本文报道了一例通过68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT检测到的AC罕见转移至乳腺的病例。
一名73岁女性在乳腺钼靶筛查中发现右乳病变，经粗针活检组织病理学分析显示为转移性神经内分泌肿瘤。随后，为进行初步评估而进行的68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT成像显示右乳病变以及右肺中叶结节状病变中放射性示踪剂摄取增加，组织学证实为AC。
肺罕见AC转移至乳腺极为罕见。然而，由于临床管理和预后存在差异，正确区分转移性肿瘤和原发性疾病至关重要，而68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT是一种具有全身成像优势的独特诊断工具。
