Mimic Breast Cancer as the Location of a Penetrating Breast Artery: A Case Series

Abstract

Objectives: We encountered a case of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) of the breast with multiple metastases to the brain, lung, and pancreas. Here, we present clinical imaging results and report the significance of sonographic findings of breast IMT along with a literature review. Methods: Case report and literature review. Results: A 16-year-old girl with a history of subarachnoidal hemorrhage was admitted to our hospital due to tonic-clonic seizure. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed multiple mass lesions in the brain, lung, and pancreas and a solitary mass lesion in the left breast. Breast ultrasonography showed a circumscribed ovalshaped low-echoic mass with a central high-echoic region. Power Doppler sonography revealed an unusual spiral-shaped flow signal. Breast tumorectomy was performed for definitive diagnosis, and pathological analysis indicated IMT. Conclusions: A literature review indicated that ultrasonographic findings of IMTof the breast are nonspecific, as in other systems or organs. It would be difficult to make a diagnosis of primary IMT of the breast preoperatively due to its rarity and the lack of specificity of clinical imaging findings. In addition, the likelihood of IMTof the breast is unlikely in younger patients without an obvious family history of hereditary breast cancer.