A CASE OF TUBULAR ADENOMA OF THE BREAST SIMULATING BREAST CARCINOMA

Abstract

Tubular adenoma is a rare benign tumor of the breast that commonly occurs in young women. We report a case of tubular adenoma of the breast which was difficult to diagnose. A 71-year-old woman visited the hospital because of a left breast mass. She had three children. There was no discharge from the left nipple, and she felt no pain. Ultrasonography revealed a well demarcated and heterogeneous mass, which was 2.5×2.5×2.4cm in size, and was located in the C and D area of the left breast. Mammography showed spicula in the mass. The preoperative pathological diagnosis by aspiration biopsy cytology was adenocarcinoma, therefore, a modified radical mastectomy was performed. However, intra-operative pathological diagnosis was tubular adenoma. Misdiagnosis of a breast cancer sometimes occurs in aspiration cytology when degeneration or central infarction has occurred as in tubular adenoma. Therefore, consideration of this disease as an initial diagnosis is essential to prevent unnecessary mastectomy.