Jeroen Crevits, Andreas Van Steen, Chantal Van Ongeval, Guy Marchal
The Breast Journal 2009 15; 3: 307-308
Link to Journal
Lupus mastitis consists of subcutaneous nodules or plaques, with or without epidermal manifestations, usually leaving persistent areas of lipoatrophy. Those which tend to undergo necrosis may be associated with areas of dystrophic calcification. In men without gynecomastia calcifications can only be due to fat necrosis, that may be extensive in case of lipomastia. Differential diagnosis of lupus mastitis includes breast carcinoma, nonHodgkin lymphoma, uncommon breast localizations of connective tissue and systemic diseases. The dystrophic calcifications in our case were easily differentiated from calcifications indicating malignancy. In fact, these mammographic findings could also be due to silicon injections or posttraumatic fat necrosis, but interrogation rejected these hypotheses.
Lupus mastitis is a subset of lupus panniculitis limited to the breast. It is a rare inflammatory reaction of the subcutaneous fat, that may occur in 2–3% of patients with SLE. Lupus mastitis can be suspected in patients with SLE presenting with breast masses involving the subcutaneous fat. However, it is important that any suspicious calcifications and masses should be well examined to exclude malignancy
No comments:
Post a Comment