TITLE:
Mucinous Carcinoma of the Breast Accompanied by Coarse Calcification
AUTHORS:
Hitomi Tani, Ryusuke Murakami, Tamiko Yoshida, Keiko Yanagihara, Shinya Iida, Shinichi Tsuchiya
KEYWORDS:
Breast Cancer; Calcification; Mucinous Carcinoma; Mammography
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Imaging,
Vol.2 No.4,
December
19,
2012
ABSTRACT: Mucinous carcinoma of the breast has histologically distinct features and constitutes 1-3% of all breast cancers. It produces variable amounts of extracellular epithelial mucin and clinically its prognosis is far better than for other types of invasive carcinoma. On the other hand, coarse calcification is a common mammographic feature of benign tumors. There have been few reported cases of breast cancer containing coarse calcification. We present a unique 40 year-old female case of mucinous carcinoma of the breast accompanied by coarse calcification on mammography, which was mimicking fibroadenoma and an unusual variant of breast cancer. This case illustrates the importance of bearing in mind that mucinous carcinoma may demonstrate coarse calcification.