J Korean Surg Soc 2012;82:116-119 http://dx.doi.org/10.4174/jkss.2012.82.2.116 CASE REPORT JKSS Journal of the Korean Surgical Society pISSN 2233-7903ㆍeISSN 2093-0488 Small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast Jin Kyung An, Jeong Joo Woo, Jae Hee Kang1, Eun Kyung Kim2 Departments of Radiology, 1Surgery, and 2Pathology, Eulji General Hospital, Eulji University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea A small-cell carcinoma is one of the histologic subtypes of primary neuroendocrine carcinomas of the breast. A small-cell car- cinoma is a rare entity of the breast and exhibits similar morphologic features as neuroendocrine tumors of the gastro- intestinal tract and lung. We present the imaging and pathologic findings of a primary small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast. This is the first report of a primary small-cell carcinoma arising from the breast in Korea. Key Words: Breast neoplasms, Neuroendocrine carcinoma, Small cell carcinoma INTRODUCTION Neuroendocrine neoplasms are defined as epithelial ne- oplasms with predominant neuroendocrine differentia- tion, which range from non-aggressive carcinoid tumors to highly aggressive small cell carcinomas [1]. Neuroendo- crine neoplasms arise in most organs of the body, espe- cially the lungs, pancreas, and gastrointestinal tract [2]. Since Wade et al. [3] first reported a neuroendocrine tumor in 1983, several cases have been reported. We present a case of a primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast with imaging and pathologic findings. CASE REPORT In July 2007, a 64-year-old woman sought evaluation at our hospital for a palpable lesion in the left breast which had been detected several days earlier. The medical his- tory was significant for diabetes mellitus and hyper- tension. A 0.8-cm irregular, hypoechoic lesion near the left areola was demonstrated on sonography (Fig. 1A). A biop- sy was recommended due to the suspicious shape; how- ever, the patient declined any procedures which would permit pathologic confirmation. In December 2010, the patient visited our hospital with symptoms of exertional dyspnea of 1 month duration. Because of the underlying diabetes mellitus and hyper- tension, the imaging work-up focused on the pulmonary symptoms. A chest computed tomography (CT) showed multiple nodular septa, fissures, and pleural thickening of both lungs with a large bilateral pleural effusion and mul- tiple enlarged lymph nodes in the paratracheal and axil- lary areas, suggestive of lymphangitic metastasis. There were no pulmonary nodules, mediastinal masses, or bron- chial abnormalities. In addition to the pulmonary find- Received June 28, 2011, Revised July 26, 2011, Accepted August 9, 2011 Correspondence to: Jin Kyung An Department of Radiology, Eulji General Hospital, Eulji University School of Medicine, 280-1 Hagye 1-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-711, Korea Tel: ＋82-2-970-8290, Fax: ＋82-2-970-8346, E-mail: jkan0831@eulji.ac.kr cc Journal of the Korean Surgical Society is an Open Access Journal. All articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright © 2012, the Korean Surgical Society