Metachronous, Single Metastasis to the Parotid, from PrimaryBreast Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

The parotid gland is an unusual site for metastatic disease and when metastasis occurs, it commonly originates fromhead and neck primaries. Spread from distant infraclavicular sites such as the breast, into the parotid, is even more unusual withvery few cases reported in the literature.Case Report. We describe the case of a 65-year-old woman presenting for a rapidly enlargingright parotid mass. She had a history of an invasive ductal carcinoma of the right breast and was disease-free in the past 6 years priorto her presentation. She was thereafter diagnosed as having a solitary parotid metastasis from breast origin. A total parotidectomywasdoneandshewasreferredforadjuvantradiotherapy.Conclusion. Any parotid metastasis should be investigated, especially inpatients with a prior history of cancer where the possibility of metastasis, even if improbable, should be kept in mind. Fine needleaspiration biopsy (FNAB) is the first diagnostic procedure to be done and immunocytochemistry can provide valuable informationeven if it is not always needed for diagnosis. Superficial parotidectomy when feasible with adjuvant radiotherapy is the preferredapproachforsolitarymetastasisoftheparotid.Theprognosis,however,remainspoorregardlessofthetreatmentmodalityused