TITLE:
Optic Nerve Metastasis from Breast Carcinoma after Treatment with Taxanes
AUTHORS:
Mónica Asencio-Duran, José-Luis Vallejo-Garcia, Isabel Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Margarita Sánchez-Orgaz, Álvaro Arbizu-Duralde
KEYWORDS:
Choroidal Metastasis, Optic Nerve Metastasis, Breast Cancer, Hormone Therapy, Taxanes
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.3 No.6,
June
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: Introduction: The
incidence of ocular metastasis from Breast Carcinoma is only between 5% - 30%,
mainly located in choroid, but the location in optic nerve is even more
infrequent. We present a rare case that combined both locations sequentially in
the same eye. Methods: Case report. Results: A 58-year-old woman with advanced
breast cancer was referred with a choroidal metastasis in her right eye which
responded well to systemic Taxol and Avastin. Afterwards, she developed an
optic nerve metastasis in the same eye when she was under the treatment, so it
was changed to Docetaxel. Unfortunately the patient didn’t respond to this
treatment and died. Conclusions: Choroidal metastasis secondary to breast
cancer generally responds well to radiotherapy. Even so, in cases that a great
deterioration of visual acuity is expected after radiation, chemotherapy like
taxanes is an alternative to preserve vision with complete tumor regression.
Nevertheless, the presentation of a second metastasis in optic nerve can be
indicative of inadequate treatment of metastatic disease or complication of the
treatment, or both.