Imaging findings for malignancy-mimicking nodular fasciitis of the breast and a review of previous imaging studies

Abstract

We report a case of nodular fasciitis of the breast mimicking malignant tumor. A 41-year-old female patient with a palpable mass in the upper center of the left breast present for 1 week visited our hospital. A mammogram showed an oval isodense with a partially indistinct margin. Ultrasonography demonstrated a hypoechoic mass, 8 × 11 mm in size. Breast cancer could not be excluded based on mammographic and ultrasonographic (US) findings. A core needle biopsy and excisional biopsy were performed. Histopathologic examination revealed a diagnosis of nodular fasciitis of the breast. The mammographic and US findings of nodular fasciitis in the breast is reviewed.

Keywords: Breast; biopsy; breast neoplasm; mammography; nodular fasciitis; ultrasonography.

Fig. 1.

A 41-year-old woman with nodular fasciitis of the breast. (a) The mediolateraloblique view of mammography showed a 10-mm-diameter oval isodense mass with partially indistinct margin in the upper center of her left breast (with a BB-marker).

Fig. 2.

Ultrasonography at the 12 o’clock position of the left breast revealed an 8 × 11 mm, irregular, non-parallel, hypoechoic mass with microlobulated margin and echogenic halo (arrowheads). The superficial margin of the mass touches the skin line and the deep margin is located on the fibroglandular tissue.

Fig. 3.

Photomicrograph showed the features of nodular fasciitis with nodular proliferation of spindle to oval cells and giant cells admixed with collagenous stroma (H&E, ×200).