A case of primary carcinoid tumor of the breast

Abstract

Primary carcinoid of the breast is very rare. Only 50 cases of primary carcinoid tumor of the breast have been reported in the Japanese literature. We report a case of this disease with a review of the literature.
A 60–year–old woman had a palpable tumor of 1.8cm in diameter in the AE region of the left breast. Ultrasound examination showed an irregular shaped low echoic tumor. Core needle biopsy demonstrated ductal carcinoma, and so the patient underwent partial mastectomy with ipsilateral axillary lymph node dissection. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stains showed a carcinoid–like appearance. The tumor was positive in both chromogranin A and synaptophysin stains. No lymph node metastasis was seen. The cells of the tumor were found to be positive for both estrogen and progesterone receptors. Based on the above findings, the tumor was diagnosed as primary carcinoid tumor of the breast.