A CASE REPORT OF APOCRINE CARCINOMA OF THE BREAST

A case of apocrine carcinoma of the breast is presented. The patient was a 37-year-old female with a tumor of the left breast which was 8×8×5cm in size and existed mainly in the upper inner quadrant and partly in the lower inner and upper outer quadrants. Skin ulceration was present. In bilateral axilla and supraclavicular fossa, no lymphnodes were palpable. Aspiration cytology of the tumor showed class V. Preoperative diagnosis was left breast cancer (T4, N0, M0, Stage 3), and left extended radical mastectomy was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful, and she is now being followed in the out patient department. The incidence of apocrine carcinoma of the breast is about 0.2 percent of ductal carcinomas. The macroscopic appearance of apocrine carcinoma is indistinguishable from common carcinomas of the breast, and its apocrine nature can be detected only, by microscopic examination. In this case, the characteristics were as follows: 1) The tumor was sharply demarcated from the tissues aroundit. 2) The tumor consisted of yellow, homogeneous parenchyma without necrotic or fibrotic lesion. 3) In spite of the large size of the tumor, no metastatic nodes were found pathologically (0/12).