Male Occult Breast Cancer Manifesting As Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis

Occult breast cancer is a type of cancer with no symptoms found upon physical examination on the breasts or which can not be radiologically shown. It generally manifests itself with axillary metastasis with no known primary tumor. Breast cancer in males is rarely seen. Occult breast cancer, on the other hand, is even rarer and only case reports were found in literature. A 46-year-old male patient had excisional biopsy at another medical facility because of a palpable mass on his right armpit. The pathological diagnosis had stated that the patient had adenocarcinoma metastasis with symptoms implying an infiltrative ductal carcinoma metastasis of the breast. Abdominal and thoracic tomography, upper and lower gastrointestinal system endoscopy procedures were performed on the patient in order to determine the primary focus. Breast ultrasonography, breast magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography were also performed. Upon not being able to detect any positive findings, the patient was considered to have occult breast carcinoma and modified radical mastectomy was performed. In conclusion, in the presence of metastatic lymph node with no known primary tumor in the axillary, the possibility of occult breast cancer should be taken into consideration even if the patient is male.