Clinicopathological correlation of cutaneous metastatic breast carcinoma using lymphatic and vascular markers: lymphatics are mainly involved in cutaneous metastasis

Summary Precise clinicopathological correlations of the clinical features of metastatic breast carcinoma with lymphatic‐specific markers are rare. We classified 28 patients with metastatic breast carcinoma according to their clinical features. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using D2‐40, CD31 and CD34. Of the 28 patients, 8 (28.6%) had inflammatory metastatic carcinoma, 6 (21.4%) had the telangiectatic type, 5 had the nodular type, 3 had the en cuirasse type, 3 had alopecia neoplastica, and 3 had a combination of features. D2‐40 staining revealed dilated lymphatic channels (lymphangiectasia) in the upper dermis of all patients; in addition, 13 patients (46.4%) had intralymphatic tumour‐cell emboli, which were common in those with the inflammatory and telangiectatic types. Intratumoral lymphatic invasion in the main tumour nodule was seen in 12 patients (42.9%). Our results suggest that cutaneous metastatic breast carcinomas have various clinical presentations, and that lymphatic vessels play an important role in all types of cutaneous metastasis.