Endocrine organ metastases from breast carcinoma

Breast carcinoma frequently metastasizes to endocrine organs, a behavior which may have prognostic or therapeutic relevance. Whether endocrine organ involvement represents a trophic influence on some carcinomas or is simply 'mass effect' of tumor dissemination is uncertain. To investigate this question, the authors reviewed the clinial and pathologic features of 187 subjects with metastatic breast carcinoma, all of whom had been subjected to complete autopsy at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Metastases to primary endocrine organs ie, the anterior pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, or adrenal cortex, occurred in 57%, and metastases to secondary endocrine organ, ie, the pineal posterior pituitary thymus, adrenal medulla, or pancreas, occurred in 62% of patients. In general patients with endocrine organ metastases were significantly younger and had significantly greater numbers of metastases and greater overall tumor burden than those without endocrine organ metastases (all P