Schwannoma of the breast: a report of rare location and a brief literature review

Abstract

Schwannoma is a slow-growing tumor developed from a nerve sheath. Breast localization is extremely rare. We report the first described case of mammary schwannoma in Madagascar, in a 38-year-old woman with right breast swelling. The clinical and paraclinical examination carried out led us to a benign pathology. A total mastectomy was performed. Much differential diagnosis can be evoked in front of a clinical picture of a benign tumor but the histological examination found a nodule composed of fusiform cells, non-atypical, organized in bundles, whose arrangement of palisades gives a zebra appearance called “Verocay’s nodule”, posing the diagnosis of breast schwannoma. This clinical case demonstrates the importance of complete excision of the tumor and definitive histopathological examination in the diagnosis of breast tumor.