title: Clinicopathological correlation of cutaneous metastatic breast carcinoma using lymphatic and vascular markers: lymphatics are mainly involved in cutaneous metastasis.
abstract: Precise clinicopathological correlations of the clinical features of metastatic breast carcinoma with lymphatic-specific markers are rare. We classified 28 patients with metastatic breast carcinoma according to their clinical features. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using D2-40, CD31 and CD34. Of the 28 patients, 8 (28.6%) had inflammatory metastatic carcinoma, 6 (21.4%) had the telangiectatic type, 5 had the nodular type, 3 had the en cuirasse type, 3 had alopecia neoplastica, and 3 had a combination of features. D2-40 staining revealed dilated lymphatic channels (lymphangiectasia) in the upper dermis of all patients; in addition, 13 patients (46.4%) had intralymphatic tumour-cell emboli, which were common in those with the inflammatory and telangiectatic types. Intratumoral lymphatic invasion in the main tumour nodule was seen in 12 patients (42.9%). Our results suggest that cutaneous metastatic breast carcinomas have various clinical presentations, and that lymphatic vessels play an important role in all types of cutaneous metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology Pathology General surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea. sjyun@chonnam.ac.kr
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Won
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor