Objectives:

To describe the histopathological diagnoses of patients with breast cancer who underwent resection of pulmonary nodules at the National Cancer Institute (INC) of Bogotá.

Materials and methods:

A case-series study was developed to describe the clinical, histological and anatomopathological characteristics of a sample of patients with a diagnosis of de novo metastatic breast cancer or whom presented with pulmonary nodules during their disease that required surgical resection by wedge pulmonary or lobectomy in the INC, between January 1, 2015 and April 30, 2018.

Results:

During the study period, 225 resections were performed in lung wedge and lobectomies, 55 of these patients had a diagnosis of breast cancer, of which 69.1% were of neoplastic origin, 26 (47.3%) were metastatic of breast cancer, 9 (16.4%) second primary pulmonary and 1 (1.8%) patient had concomitantly primary lung cancer and a breast metastasis. Another 2 (3.6%) patients had metastases from other organs, one from the rectum and one from the thyroid, while the remaining 17 (30.9%) patients presented a report of benign lung lesions in the pathology.

Conclusion:

The presence of pulmonary nodules in patients with breast cancer are not always secondary to metastatic disease. Other etiologies may exist, such as primary pulmonary cancer, metastasis from other cancers, benign lung tumors or infections. Knowing the etiology of pulmonary nodules in patients with breast cancer is crucial to evaluate the therapeutic options that can vary from surgical management to systemic management.

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