Breast
Inflammatory / infectious
Tuberculosis
Author: Hind Warzecha, M.D.
Last author update: 1 April 2010
Last staff update: 4 September 2019
Copyright 2002-2019, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search Tuberculosis [title] of the breast [title]
Table of Contents
Terminology | Epidemiology | Clinical features | Case reports | Treatment | Clinical images | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Cytology descriptionCite this page: Warzecha H. Tuberculosis. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/breastTB.html. Accessed October 2nd, 2023.
Terminology
- Also called tuberculous mastitis
Epidemiology
- Rare in Western countries but more common in India (The Internet Journal of Tropical Medicine 2004;2(2))
Clinical features
- May present with abscess, fistula or mass (Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2009;103:559)
- Usually unilateral without pulmonary involvement (ANZ J Surg 2006;76:234, Clinics (Sao Paulo) 2009;64:607)
- Acid fast bacilli are usually not identified
- For breast cancer patients with granulomatous axillary lymphadenitis, PCR may be required to rule out TB in endemic regions (Pathol Res Pract 2007;203:699)
Case reports
- 30 year old woman with breast lump, a rare presentation of costochondral junction tuberculosis (Cases J 2009;2:7039)
- 47 year old woman with coexistence of carcinoma and tuberculosis in one breast (World J Surg Oncol 2008;6:29)
- 54 year old woman with tuberculosis of the breast (J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg 2010;63:e397)
- 73 year old woman with mammary tuberculosis mimicking breast cancer (J Med Case Rep 2008;2:34)
Treatment
- Antibiotics (eMedicine: Tuberculosis Treatment & Management); excision of mass may also be necessary (J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 2009;19:158)
Clinical images
Images hosted on other servers:
Resembles breast carcinoma
Costochondral junction TB
Discoloration of overlying skin multiple sinuses
Gross description
- Multiple sinuses or fistulas; may have focal discoloration or mass
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Granulomas with Langhans giant cells and caseous necrosis (often)
Microscopic (histologic) images
AFIP images
Granulomatous inflammation and Langhans giant cells
Granulomatous
inflammation of
major lactiferous duct
with epithelial necrosis
Contributed by Dr. Mark R. Wick
Tuberculosis
Ziehl-Neelsen stain+
Images hosted on other servers:
Granuloma with central necrosis and epithelioid histiocytes
Suppurative granuloma and inflammatory infiltrate
TB and infiltrating ductal carcinoma
Cytology description
- Foamy histiocytes, neutrophils, necrotic debris
