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Case Reports
. 2019 Jun 14;2019(6):rjz182.
doi: 10.1093/jscr/rjz182. eCollection 2019 Jun.

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast: a case report and review of the literature

Affiliations
Case Reports

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast: a case report and review of the literature

Nirupama Anne et al. J Surg Case Rep. .

Abstract

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast is a rare tumor. The prognosis is poor, and hence there is a clinical trend to offer multi-modal treatment options of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. There is no consensus on treatment options due to the paucity of available data. We are reporting the case of a 68-year-old lady who presented with a right breast mass. Upon core biopsy and further workup, she was noted to have primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast. She was successfully treated with surgical therapy alone without disease recurrence at 36 months. Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the breast can be treated successfully with surgical therapy alone. The role of adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and anti-estrogen therapy should be questioned as these modalities can lead to significant treatment-related morbidities and might not be contributing to disease-free interval or overall survival from this unusual tumor subtype.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Right breast cranio-caudal and mediolateral oblique mammographic views, demonstrate a smooth, well rounded, mammographic density, corresponding to the palpable right breast mass. In addition, a prominent right axillary lymph node is noted in the mediolateral oblique view.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Right breast cranio-caudal and mediolateral oblique mammographic views, demonstrate a smooth, well rounded, mammographic density, corresponding to the palpable right breast mass. In addition, a prominent right axillary lymph node is noted in the mediolateral oblique view.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Right breast ultrasound demonstrates an irregular shaped, hypoechoic solid mass, located adjacent to the pectoralis muscle. This corresponds to the abnormal mammographic density noted in Figures1 and 2 and to the palpable abnormal finding on the clinical breast exam.
Figure 4:
Figure 4:
Hematoxylin and eosin staining shows squamous cell cancer.
Figure 5:
Figure 5:
Cytokeratin 5/6 staining is positive which indicates the cells to be of squamous origin.

References

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