Primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the breast: Clinicopathological analysis of a case and difficulties encountered in a biopsy

Abstract

Background. With <40 case reports published in the English literature, mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the breast is quite rare compared to its counterparts in the ovary, pancreas, and appendix. The purpose of this case report is to enrich scientific data by sharing the clinicopathological features of this new and extremely rare entity and present possible difficulties encountered in the biopsy materials. Case Report. A 34-year-old female patient presented with the complaint of white discharge from her left nipple lasting 8 months. Physical and radiological examination of the patient revealed a mass in the lower quadrant of the left breast and tru-cut biopsy was performed. The diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma of no special type was reported. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, left subcutaneous mastectomy and left sentinel lymph node biopsy were performed. Microscopic evaluation of the mastectomy material revealed a tumor consisting of stratified columnar cells with basally located nuclei and intracytoplasmic mucin, showing papillary structures and tufting toward the lumen. Peripheral myoepithelial cells were not identified with p63 and calponin immunohistochemistry. The diagnosis of mucinous cystadenocarcinoma was given through histomorphological and immunohistochemical evaluations. Conclusion. Clarifying unknown points about this rare malignancy of the breast and understanding the tumor biology is possible through evaluation of case reports. For this purpose, our case of primary mucinous cystadenocarcinoma is presented and its clinicopathological features are briefly discussed.