title: Male breast cancer is rare: an initial presentation may be as an abscess.
abstract: Breast cancer in men is rare. Breast cancer presenting initially as an abscess has been described only a handful of times in the literature. We present the first described case of invasive adenocarcinoma presenting as an abscess in a man. An 80-year-old diabetic man presented with symptoms typical of a breast abscess. The abscess failed to respond to percutaneous therapy and excision of breast abscess was performed. Histology revealed an invasive carcinoma. He went on to have a mastectomy. Histology should be obtained from breast abscesses not resolving within 2 months of initial percutaneous therapy. Histology could be obtained by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA), core or vacuum assisted biopsy, or by formal incision and drainage.
authors: London Deanery, Kingston Hospital, London, UK. n.ventham@hotmail.co.uk
authors: N T
authors: NT
authors: Ventham
authors: M I
authors: MI
authors: Hussien
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D018567:Breast Neoplasms, Male / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000379:methods; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler
chemical_list: D013629:Tamoxifen