Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012:4:35-43.
doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S27624. Epub 2012 Feb 7.

Breast manifestations of systemic diseases

Christina A Dilaveri  1 , Maire Brid Mac Bride, Nicole P Sandhu, Lonzetta Neal, Karthik Ghosh, Dietlind L Wahner-Roedler
Affiliations

Breast manifestations of systemic diseases

Christina A Dilaveri et al. Int J Womens Health. 2012.

Abstract

Although much emphasis has been placed on the primary presentations of breast cancer, little focus has been placed on how systemic illnesses may affect the breast. In this article, we discuss systemic illnesses that can manifest in the breast. We summarize the clinical features, imaging, histopathology, and treatment recommendations for endocrine, vascular, systemic inflammatory, infectious, and hematologic diseases, as well as for the extramammary malignancies that can present in the breast. Despite the rarity of these manifestations of systemic disease, knowledge of these conditions is critical to the appropriate evaluation and treatment of patients presenting with breast symptoms.

Keywords: breast; endocrine; hematologic; infectious; vascular.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diabetic mastopathy: ultrasound of a palpable abnormality shows an ill-defined mass-like area with decreased echogenicity and concerning features.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Breast biopsy showing lymphocytic mastitis consistent with diabetic mastopathy. Hematoxylin-eosin stains: Left, original magnification 400×; right top, original magnification 400×; right bottom, original magnification 400×.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bilateral mammogram showing benign arterial calcifications. (A) Right mediolateral oblique view shows arterial calcification (arrows) and (at top right of image) a pacemaker. (B) Left mediolateral oblique view shows arterial calcification (arrows).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Plasmacytoma of the breast. Left mammogram shows (A) a small well defined mass (circle) in the left craniocaudal view and (B) an abnormal lymph node (arrows) in the mediolateral oblique view. (C) Ultrasound shows a hypoechoic mass (arrows) with hyperechoic rim.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Breast biopsy. (A) Breast biopsy shows plasma cell neoplasm (hematoxylineosin stain, original magnification 200×). (B) Left, κ immunoglobulin antibody light chain stain is positive (original magnification 400×) and, right, λ immunoglobulin antibody light chain stain is negative (original magnification 400×).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ely KA, Tse G, Simpson JF, Clarfeld R, Page DL. Diabetic mastopathy: a clinicopathologic review. Am J Clin Pathol. 2000;113(4):541–545. - PubMed
    1. Gouveri E, Papanas N, Maltezos E. The female breast and diabetes. Breast. 2011;20(3):205–211. - PubMed
    1. Kudva YC, Reynolds C, O’Brien T, Powell C, Oberg AL, Crotty TB. Diabetic mastopathy, or sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis, is strongly associated with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2002;25(1):121–126. - PubMed
    1. Hunfeld KP, Bassler R. Lymphocytic mastitis and fibrosis of the breast in long-standing insulin-dependent diabetics: a histopathologic study on diabetic mastopathy and report of ten cases. Gen Diagn Pathol. 1997;143(1):49–58. - PubMed
    1. Sotome K, Ohnishi T, Miyoshi R, et al. An uncommon case of diabetic mastopathy in type II non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Breast Cancer. 2006;13(2):205–209. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources