Chronic lymphangitic carcinomatosis in the lung from breast carcinoma

Purpose: Long survival after development of lymphangitic metastasis to the lung from breast cancer is considered very unusual. The authors present three such cases in order to demonstrate that chronic lymphangitic carcinomatosis does indeed occur and that stability of the radiographic abnormality is not therefore an argument against carcinomatosis. The authors have reviewed the records, radiographs, and CT scans (one case) of three patients with symptomatic lymphangitic lung metastasis from infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast. Lymphangitic metastasis was symmetric in all three cases. In two cases it involved all lung regions and in one only the bases