Abstract
The case of a patient with secretory carcinoma of the right breast with ipsilateral accessory breast cancer for whom preoperative diagnosis was difficult is described. The patient was a 78-year-old woman whose chief complaint was a right axillary mass. A subcutaneous mass, 1.5 cm in diameter, that was elastic, hard, and movable was palpated in the right axilla near the upper arm. No clear masses were palpated in either breast. Although preoperative diagnostic imaging strongly suggested right breast cancer, fine needle aspiration cytology was suspicious of breast cancer, but not confirmed. Since axillary lymph node metastasis of right breast cancer was suspected, a right mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection and right axillary tumor resection was performed in Janurary 2008. The final histopathological diagnosis was secretory carcinoma of the right breast and scirrhous carcinoma of the right axilla. In addition, the patient was diagnosed as having primary accessory breast cancer, because normal breast tissue and intraductal lesions were observed on the margin of the area of invasion by the axillary tumor. The patient is currently receiving exemestane and undergoing follow-up.
