[Spontaneous pneumothorax and breast cancer]. / Pneumotórax espontâneo e câncer de mama.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous pneumothorax with concomitant neoplastic diseases is unusual. Lung cancer and osteogenic sarcoma with pulmonary metastasis are the neoplasms that most frequently accompany the spontaneous pneumothorax. This article's purposes are to relate the occurrence of spontaneous pneumothorax associated with breast neoplasms and to discuss the main etiopathogenic factors involved in the process. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors report a case of a 43-year-old black woman carrier of a left breast ductal carcinoma with bilateral pulmonary metastasis. Spontaneous pneumothorax appeared during multidrug chemotherapy, so it cannot be related to other causes. CONCLUSIONS: Even though breast neoplasms cause lung metastases in about 60% of the cases, the coexistence of spontaneous pneumothorax and breast carcinoma is very rare. There was no report of this topic in the medical literature review during the last five years. The authors believe and discuss the multiple pneumothorax etiopathogenic factors related to this case.