Solitary Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis without Breast Involvement from Ovarian Cancer: Case Report and Brief Literature Review

Abstract

Axillary lymph node metastasis without breast involvement from ovarian cancer is rare. We report a case of a 68-year-old woman proven as ovarian serous papillary carcinoma and metastatic papillary carcinoma of the omentum on surgical diagnostic laparoscopy. In addition, a hypermetabolic lymph node was detected in left axilla and was considered a reactive benign lesion. Mammography and ultrasonography showed no focal lesion in both breasts, but ultrasonography-guided core needle biopsy for the lymph node revealed metastatic serous papillary carcinoma from ovarian origin. Even with a low incidence of axillary lymph node metastasis without breast involvement from ovarian cancer and only marginally elevated standardized uptake value in positron emission tomography, the possibility of metastasis at axillary lymph node in patients with known primary ovarian cancer must be considered.