Case report
Centrally necrotizing breast carcinoma: a rare histological subtype, which was cause of misdiagnosis in an evident clinical local recurrence
1 Department of Surgery, Valdecilla Hospital, Avda Valdecilla s/n, Santander, 39008, Spain
2 University of Cantabria, Avda, Cardenal Herrera Oria s/n, 39001, Santander, Spain
3 Department of Radiology, Valdecilla Hospital, Avda Valdecilla s/n, Santander, 39008, Spain
4 Department of Pathology, Valdecilla Hospital, Avda Valdecilla s/n, Santander, 39008, Spain
5 Urb Las Pérgolas 10, Sancibrian, Cantabria, 39110, Spain
World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2012, 10:156 doi:10.1186/1477-7819-10-156
Published: 1 August 2012Abstract
Centrally necrotizing carcinoma is a rare subtype of breast carcinoma, which is characterized by an extensive central necrotic zone accounting for at least 70% of the cross-sectional area of the neoplasm. This central necrotic zone, in turn, is surrounded by a narrow rim of proliferative viable tumor cells. We report an unusual clinical situation in which a patient whose evident breast mass suggested an ipsilateral local recurrence and for which numerous attempts to confirm the histological diagnosis had failed. The patient was treated with a radical mastectomy based on clinical suspicion of breast cancer recurrence after an undesirable delay. In this case, the narrow rim of viable malignant tissue had a thickness of 0.5 to 8 mm, and the centrally necrotizing carcinoma had a central zone with a predominance of fibrosis. The special features of this case led to a misdiagnosis and to an evident clinical local recurrence.
