Mammary hamartoma

Abstract

Mammary hamartomas are rare benign breast lumps. They are usually painless, wellcircumscribed, mobile and with no adherence to skin or muscle, composed of varying amounts of fat, glandular and fibrous tissue. Mammary hamartoma has been classically considered as an underdiagnosed pathology, but with the increasing use of diagnostic procedures in breast tumours, the number of hamartomas has increased in the last years. Because there is no distinct pathological feature, a correlation with the clinical findings and image techniques is necessary in order to achieve a correct diagnosis of the pathology. The clinicopathological features of 8 mammary hamartomas are reported here. The patients are ranged in age from 34 to 67 years. The initial manifestation was in all cases a well-circumscribed, soft, palpable breast lump. Mammography was performed in all patients. Other diagnostic procedures used in the diagnosis were Ultrasound, Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology and Needle Core Biopsy. Treatment was tumorectomy. We describe a case of recurrence after excision of the lump in a more aggressive histological form and one patient who presented the coexistence of a mammary hamartoma and an invasive ductal carcinoma. Mammary hamartoma is an uncommon breast tumour. It is necessary the correlation between pathology and clinical and radiological findings. We express our management plan for these lesions.