CASE REPORTS   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2006 December;165(6):269-72

Copyright © 2006 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Recurrence of breast carcinoma presenting as unilateral retroperitoneal fibrosis

Stravodimos K. G. ¹, Haritopoulos K. N. ¹, Kyriakou V. ², Goga H. ³, Constantinides C. ¹, Zervas A. ¹

¹ First Department of Urology, Laiko Hospital Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece; ² Department of Pathology, Laiko Hospital, Athens, Greece; ³ Second Department of Surgery, Athens University Medical School, Laiko Hospital, Athens, Greece

We report a case of unilateral retroperitoneal fibrosis as the first manifestation of metastatic carcinoma of the breast. A 65-year-old female presented with left hydronephrosis. She had undergone left mastectomy 28 months earlier and she received chemotherapy because of extended nodal involvement. There was no sign of metastases and intravenous pyelography, retrograde pyelography and CT scan of the abdomen did not reveal the cause of hydronephrosis. During laparotomy fibrous tissue was found surrounding the ureter, which was freed and placed intraperitoneally. Pathology of the fibrous tissue revealed metastatic breast carcinoma. Although rare, retroperitoneal fibrosis due to breast carcinoma should always be considered in the follow-up of these patients.