title: Concurrence of primary hyperparathyroidism and metastatic breast carcinoma affected a parathyroid gland.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Involvement of the parathyroid glands by metastatic tumor is rare. Breast is 1 of the primary sites in metastatic cancers. We introduce a rare case of metastatic breast carcinoma affecting a parathyroid gland, which was clinically combined with parathyroid gland hyperplasia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 65-year-old woman was referred due to hypercalcemia and constipation. The patient had a history of left breast carcinoma. She was admitted to the hospital because of the recent discovery of hypercalcemia and elevation of PTH. A Tc99m-sestamibi scan showed retained uptake in the right thyroid and in the lower pole of the left thyroid gland. Aspiration biopsy results revealed that the nodule in the posterior portion of the right thyroid was metastatic breast cancer and the nodule in the left thyroid gland was the hyperplastic parathyroid gland.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case illustrates that hyperparathyroidism caused by parathyroid hyperplasia was concurrent with metastatic breast cancer to a parathyroid gland without disseminated systemic metastasis. Although this case is very uncommon and it is not clear whether there is a relationship between breast cancer and primary hyperparathyroidism, that possibility should always be considered as the cause of hypercalcemia in patients with breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Busan 602-739, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Bo Hyun
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Min Jung
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Yang Seon
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Won Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yun Kyung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Sang Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yong Ki
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: In Joo
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D049950:Hyperparathyroidism, Primary / Q000209:etiology*; D006965:Hyperplasia; D010280:Parathyroid Glands / Q000473:pathology; D010282:Parathyroid Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*