Eyes do not see what the mind does not know – A desmoid tumour in the breast

Abstract

A 25-year-old woman presented with a lump in the upper outer quadrant of her right breast. She did not volunteer any other history. On examination, she had a 2 cm 3 cm irregular hard lump that was tethered to the skin (Fig. 1a) efeatures typical of a carcinoma. However, she had mentioned ‘‘ibuprofen’’ when she filled in her basic history sheet (Fig. 1b). This prompted a ‘‘why?’’e and a reply ‘‘Oh! it is for pain from desmoids’’. This foreknowledge and the finding of other tumours with similar features on her back and abdominal wall allowed a clinical diagnosis of desmoid tumour. The radiologist (DM) was surprised with the accuracy of clinical diagnosis written on the radiology request form, because the lump indeed had ultrasound features of a desmoid tumour (Fig. 1c). One option was to leave it alone, but the multidisciplinary recommendation was that a core