Presentation
Patient presented for routine screening.
Patient Data
The breast is heterogeneously dense, which may obscure small masses. Breast implant.
There are coarse heterogeneous calcifications in a linear distribution in the outer central region of the left breast in the anterior portion.
Redemonstration of the coarse heterogeneous calcifications in a linear distribution in the outer central region of the left breast in the anterior portion.
Case Discussion
FINAL PATHOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS: Benign breast tissue, apocrine metaplasia with calcifications.
Pathology Concordant
Recommendation: Return to screening mammogram.
Although coarse heterogeneous calcifications are suspicious, not all are cancer. In this situation, there was concern that the patient had developed ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) based on the mammographic appearance, but pathology revealed apocrine metaplasia, a nonproliferative lesion that is not at increased risk for cancer.