Breast cancer metastasising to the pelvis and abdomen: what the gynaecologist needs to know - Moore - 2012 - BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology - Wiley Online Library
A
small proportion of breast cancers metastasize within the peritoneal
cavity. With increasing breast cancer incidence rates, gynaecologists
and oncologists will encounter such women more frequently. Most women
with intraperitoneal breast cancer are premenopausal. Although data are
limited and are likely to be subject to selection bias, the median
survival of women undergoing resection appears superior to those not
undergoing surgery. Furthermore, survival is broadly similar to that for
women undergoing advanced ovarian cancer surgery, particularly when
tumour debulking is optimal. Obtaining data via randomised trials is
unlikely to be feasible and therefore we recommend prospective data
collection via the establishment of an international intraperitoneal
breast cancer patient registry. For individual women where survival is
anticipated to be more than a few months, we suggest considering
referral to a gynaecological oncology team for discussion of surgical
options.
