title: Myxoid fibroadenoma and allied conditions (myxomatosis) of the breast. A heritable disorder with special associations including cardiac and cutaneous myxomas.
abstract: Among 145 patients with the complex of myxomas, spotty pigmentation, endocrine overactivity, and psammomatous melanotic schwannomas, 31 (21%) had mammary lesions. The ages of these 26 females and five males ranged from 6 to 64 years (mean, 30 years). Five patients had breast symptoms. In 21 (81%) of the females, benign mesenchymal lesion(s) were detected pathologically. These were characterized by accumulations of large amounts of ground substance in the lobules that alterated the stroma to a very loose and myxoid tissue. The change involved single lobules (lobular myxoid change), small groups of lobules (nodular myxoid change), and large aggregates of lobules (myxoid fibroadenoma); the interlobular stroma was affected to a lesser degree. The lesions were multicentric and bilateral in eight patients (38%). Because the myxoid breast lesions were familial, were frequent findings in the complex, and were similar histologically to the cardiac and cutaneous myxomas in the complex, they undoubtedly are a component and a pathologic marker of the complex. They were the presenting feature of the complex in six patients (19%). Therefore, discovery of the myxoid breast lesions on pathologic examination should raise suspicion of the complex, and affected patients (and their primary relatives) should be evaluated accordingly.
authors.affiliation: Section of Surgical Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Carney
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Toorkey
mesh_terms: D000232:Adenofibroma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003480:Cushing Syndrome / Q000473:pathology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007911:Lentigo / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008408:Mastectomy; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009232:Myxoma / Q000473:pathology*; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000473:pathology*; D009463:Neuroma / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D013577:Syndrome