Abstract
Although abdominal wall masses are commonly observed in clinical practice, traumatic breast transposal appearing as an abdominal wall mass is a rare event. The unique phenomenon of a post-traumatic breast growing healthily in the abdominal wall has never previously been reported. The current study presents the case of a 40-year-old female who developed an unusually transposed, but healthy mammary gland in the right upper abdominal wall following a severe pedestrian traffic accident. In that accident, the powerful impact of the car caused multiple right-sided rib fractures, lung injuries and a protruding mass on the right abdominal wall. This sudden onset protruding mass was indicated to be breast tissue by computed tomography imaging and ultrasound scanning. The transposed mammary gland was resected and a pathological examination confirmed that it consisted of normal breast tissue. In this case, the force of the car caused no significant damage or necrosis to the right breast, but instead was sufficient to shift the mammary gland to the abdomen, where it grew healthily 6 months in its new location. This case highlights the capability of the mammary gland to withstand a powerful impact and survive. Moreover, it advances our knowledge of how mammary tissues respond to severe blunt-force impacts.
Highlights
Due to the increased use of mastectomy, much effort has been focused on breast reconstruction, including the use of adipose‐derived stem cells (ASC) [1]
To date, no encouraging results have been reported with regard to total breast reconstruction
In the present unique case, the force of a pedestrian traffic accident was sufficient to shift the mammary gland to the abdomen, where it grew healthily for 6 months in its new location
Summary
The patient was admitted to the Breast Center, General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command of the People's Liberation Army due to the sudden onset of a protruding mass on the right abdominal wall, which was indicated to be breast tissue by CT imaging. The right mammary gland was missing from its normal position, leaving a nipple areola complex on the right chest (Fig. 1A), and a mass ~11x15 cm in size was apparent in the right upper abdominal wall (Fig. 1A). This was further viewed by chest CT and ultrasound scans. Consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case study
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