BREAST FIBROMATOSIS AN UNUSUAL PRESENTATION OF A RARE TUMOR

i.Ganzoui, m.Landolsi., s.Kouki, h.Boujemaa, n.Ben abdallah Department of Radiology, Military Hospital of Tunis, Tunisia BR1

BREAST FIBROMATOSIS AN UNUSUAL PRESENTATION OF A RARE TUMOR

INTRODUCTION

Breast fibromatosis (BF) is a rare condition representing less than 0.2% of primary tumors of the breast.

 It is a benign entity but it is locally aggressive with a recurrence rate reaching 29%.

INTRODUCTION

It usually manifests as a painless, unilateral nodule with a hard consistency and irregular contours, with an average size of 3 cm.

The diagnosis is based on histological examination which shows a fibroblasts and myofibroblasts proliferation.

Breast Fibromatosis mimics malignancy both clinically and radiologically, it is usually described as an ACR 4 or ACR 5 lesion

OBSERVATION

.A 43-year-old woman presented with right breast lumps lasting for one year with no symptoms of impaired general condition.

 .the entire right breast was the set of confluent large masses measuring approximately 25cm on the great axis, of hard consistency, distorting its shape.

.The left breast was with no abnormalities.

. both axillae were normal.

.The realization of the right breast mammogram was technically not possible because of its volume.

.No focal abnormality was noted in the left breast.

MAMMOGRAPHY

ULRASONOGRAPHY

objectified heterogeneous confluent ill-defined formations with posterior acoustic enhancement slightly vascularized on thecolor- Doppler.( Fig 1 and 2).

fig 1

fig 2

MRI 3T Protocole: Due the technical difficulties with such

voluminous breast we couldn`t use  dedicated breast surface coils.

An abdominal phased array antenna was used instead.

Axial T1 and T2 weighted images (WI) Sagittal T1 and T2 WI Dynamic 3D T1 Fat Sat injection Post treatment: MIP, Soustraction and

enhacement Pattern .

MRI

the tumor showed on T1 weighted images a hypo signal similar to the muscle signal.

A hyper signal on T2 weighted images A progressive heterogeneous enhancement

after contrast material administration. 

There was no parietal extension or axillary lymph nodes. 

T1 and T2 WI

Axial and sag T2 WI

T1 GADO

MIPsoustraction

Three foci were selected as regions of interesttype I Pattern. progressive enhancement,with a continuous increase in signal intensity

on

TREATMENT

Due to the tumor volume, a complete mastectomy was necessary. 

Extemporaneous histological examination showed a benign tumor with healthy limits of the section. 

The definitive examination of the specimen concluded to mammary fibromatosis

 The patient remains disease-free with a 5-month follow-up.

DISCUSSION Most of the reported cases in the litterature were

described as a single movable hard or firm mass.

Skin retraction and fixation to the muscle are often present

The sonographic appearance of this disease is typically an irregular and ill-defined hypoechoic mass that is indistinguishable from breast cancer .

although unusual benign-like sonographic findings of well-defined hypoechoic breast nodules have also been reported.

DISCUSSION It is important to recognize mammary fibromatosis.

Microbiopsy , although not entirely specific, may be a source of important information .

It confidenty allows the exclusion of breast cancer and other more common diseases and is useful in planning a surgical approach to the lesion.

None of the literature we reviewed reported such voluminous case of Breast Fibromatosis.

CONCLUSION

Breast Fibromatosis is a rare benign entity, mimicking breast cancer .

Awareness of such lesions by radiologists, surgeons and pathologists is therefore of paramount importance

to guard against an unnecessarily drastic surgical approach, as a complete localized excision is all that is required.

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