An interesting case of liposarcoma of the breast

Background:

Primary liposarcomas of the breast are an extremely rare pathological entity. We report a case of liposarcoma in a 51-year-old woman who was treated at our Breast Cancer Center.

Case report:

The patient presented with a palpable, asymptomatic mass located in the lower inner quadrant of her right breast. She had no concomitant diseases at time of presentation beside obesity (BMI 31 kg/m2), her previous surgeries included cholecystectomy and she was a nonsmoker. At mammography, the lesion had smooth margins. Breast ultrasound showed an irregular structure of complex echogenicity measuring 2,4 × 2,0 × 1,6 cm (BI-RADS 5). Axillary lymph nodes were sonographically unremarkable. Ultrasound guided minimal-invasive core biopsy revealed a biphasic tumor of the phyllodes type with suspicious stroma. We conducted a breast conserving surgery; histopathological workup described a malignant phyllodes tumor of 21 mm diameter with a specific heterologous component identified as well differentiated liposarcoma; mitosis count was 21/10 HPF. Because of close margins (min. 1 mm) the patient received a subsequent wide excision which showed no further malignant lesion. The patient received no further therapy and is after one year disease-free.

Conclusions:

Well differentiated liposarcoma of the breast is a rare neoplasm. Precise classification of the tumor may represent a diagnostic challenge.