A Case of Well Differentiated Liposarcoma in a Lipoma of the Breast

Abstract

Here, we report an extremely rare case of a well-differentiated liposarcoma in a lipoma originating in the breast. A 70-year-old woman was referred to the outpatient breast clinic because of the detailed examination of a 5 cm large subcutaneous mass in the lower area of her left breast. Since differential diagnosis between lipoma and well-differentiated liposarcoma could not be accurately achieved through tissue biopsy, the mass was widely excised. The result showed reddish-brown tumor of 2 cm with irregular borders within the lipoma in the sectioned specimen, and a pathological diagnosis of well-differentiated liposarcoma was concluded by histological examination including adequate immunohistochemistry (IHC).

Preoperative diagnosis of a well-differentiated liposarcoma originating within a lipoma is very difficult. For lipomas ranging in diameter between 5 cm and 10 cm, wide excision and histologic examination, including IHC of the resected specimen, is another treatment option.