Abstract
Benign lymphoreticulosis (cat scratch disease, CSD) may have a clinical course that varies from the most common lymphadenitis localized in the site of inoculation, preceded by the typical “primary lesion,” to a context of severe systemic involvement. Among these uncommon clinical aspects, there is mammarian granulomatous lymphadenitis which may appear as a mastitis or a solitary intraparenchymal mass, giving the impression of a breast tumor. In these cases, intensive clinical, instrumental, and laboratory investigations are necessary to exclude malignancy. Because of its rarity, in equivocal cases, it is reasonable to use surgical excision for accurate histological examination. We report a case of CSD of the breast in a 59-year-old woman, analyzing the clinical, histopathological, and instrumental appearance and also performing a literature review.
Highlights
Benign lymphoreticulosis is a zoonotic disease from Bartonella henselae, which usually manifests as a localized granulomatous lymphadenopathy near the site of inoculation after a cat scratch or other pet’s one
We report an unusual case of CSD with breast localization in a 59-year-old woman, describing the clinical, histopathological, and instrumental appearance, performing a literature review
In the classic form of CSD, typical of immunocompetent individuals, after 3–10 days from cutaneous inoculation it develops the characteristic of “primary lesion”, that progresses through the stages of vesicle and erythematous papule, resolving within 1–3 weeks
Summary
Benign lymphoreticulosis (cat scratch disease, CSD) is a zoonotic disease from Bartonella henselae, which usually manifests as a localized granulomatous lymphadenopathy near the site of inoculation after a cat scratch or other pet’s one. In a minority of cases, it can have a severe systemic involvement with splenitis, mediastinitis, and encephalitis [1,2,3]. The mammarian localization is very uncommon, sporadic reports are given in the literature [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. During the clinical and instrumental investigations, it may appear as a solitary intraglandular mass mimicking inflammatory breast cancer. We report an unusual case of CSD with breast localization in a 59-year-old woman, describing the clinical, histopathological, and instrumental appearance, performing a literature review
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