Abstract
Only 0.1-0.4% of all breast cancers are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the mammary gland. Differential diagnoses for this type of tumor are SCC of the breast and SCC of the skin. We report a challenging case with regards to diagnostic and therapeutic strategy.
The case was a 64-year-old woman with von Recklinghausen's disease who visited our hospital because of a large left breast tumor. Thoracic computed tomography (CT) showed a malformed tumor without chest wall invasion in the left breast and left axillary lymph node swelling. Needle biopsy showed SCC. SCC of the mammary gland is a rare carcinoma, differential diagnoses included not only SCC of the mammary gland but also SCC of the skin. Because the possibility of skin cancer was considered to be low after pathologists and dermatologists examined the clinical and pathological findings, the patient was diagnosed with breast cancer clinical stage T4bN1M0 Stage IIIB. The patient underwent preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, and then left mastectomy and left axillary dissection were performed.
Because the tumor was continuous with the skin and not continuous with the breast tissue, the final pathologic diagnosis of the surgical specimen was squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.
