Basal cell carcinoma of nipple

Breast malignant, males, children
Carcinoma subtypes
Basal cell carcinoma of nipple

Author: Monika Roychowdhury, M.D. (see Authors page)

Revised: 23 December 2016, last major update March 2012

Copyright: (c) 2002-2016, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

PubMed search: Basal cell carcinoma [title] nipple

Table of Contents

Cite this page: Basal cell carcinoma of nipple. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/breastmalignantBCCnipple.html. Accessed July 14th, 2017.

Definition / general

Not in WHO breast classification
See also Skin - Nonmelanocytic tumors chapter

Epidemiology

Very rare (< 50 cases reported), usually age 60+ years, equal distribution between men and women

Clinical features

May behave aggressively with axillary nodal metastases

Case reports

47 year old woman with giant basal cell carcinoma of the breast mimicking Paget's disease (Onkologie 2010;33:613)
59 year old man with metastasizing basal cell carcinoma of the nipple (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1986;110:761)
67 year old man with primary basal cell carcinoma of the nipple (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2004;128:792)
74 year old woman with primary superficial basal cell carcinoma of the nipple (Ann Saudi Med 2007;27:296)

Treatment

No consensus - wide local excision, mastectomy, radiation therapy
Patients should be followed up for primary site recurrence and axillary metastasis as there is greater incidence than with BCC at other anatomical sites (Dermatol Surg 2009;35:1771)
Photodynamic therapy proposed as an alternative in superficial tumors (Onkologie 2010;33:613)

Clinical images

Images hosted on PathOut server:

Courtesy of Dr. Mark R. Wick

Images hosted on other servers:

Fungating, ulcerated, bleeding mass

Pigmented lesion

Microscopic (histologic) description

Proliferating nests of basaloid cells arising from epidermis and extending into superficial dermis and nipple stroma
May involve underlying lactiferous ducts

Microscopic (histologic) images

Images hosted on PathOut server:

Skin - not nipple: superficial tumor

Adenoid, courtesy of Dr. Mark R. Wick

Infiltrative, courtesy of Dr. Mark R. Wick

Courtesy of Dr. Mark R. Wick

Images hosted on other servers:

Various images, H&E

Nodules of basal cell carcinoma

Pigmented lesion

Differential diagnosis

Paget's disease: tumor cells are large with clear cytoplasm, not basaloid
Bowen's disease: in situ disease without invasion; cells typically are not basaloid