Fine needle aspiration cytology of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia of the breast: a case report

A Recurrence of Bilateral Diffuse Sclerosing Lobular Hyperplasia of Breast: A Case Report

Mammary sclerosing lobular hyperplasia is an uncommon benign fibroproliferative lesion of adolescent and young women, often of African American heritage with an incidence of ~3%. Patients generally complain of a palpable, painless, or slightly tender and well-defined lump in breast. Very rarely, this lesion may be bilateral and diffuse. The definitive diagnosis of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia requires histopathologic evaluation. Here, we describe a case of diffuse sclerosing lobular hyperplasia in a 29-year-old African American woman that required bilateral mastectomy and recurred bilaterally requiring second resections. This appears to be the first report of this phenomenon.

Sclerosing Lobular Hyperplasia- Correlation between Cytomorphological and Histological Findings

Sclerosing lobular hyperplasia of the mammary gland is an uncommmon benign lesion which is mainly seen in adolescents and young women. The breast lobules are enlarged due to ductal and acinar proliferations but they have normal architecture. There is extensive fibrosis of the intralobular stroma, and to a lesser degree, of the interlobular parenchyma. Patients generally complain of a palpable, painless/slightly tender and well-defined lump in breast. Fine-needle aspiration cytology of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia is non diagnostic with features similar to fibroadneoma except for the absence of stromal fragments. In order to reach a definitive diagnosis, a histopathologic evaluation is needed. However, a distinction between the two benign entities is of no clinical significance.We are describing a case of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia that occurred in the left breast of a 26-year-old lady.

Sclerosing lobular hyperplasia of breast: cytomorphologic and histomorphologic features: a case report

Background

Mammary sclerosing lobular hyperplasia is an uncommon benign lesion of adolescent and young women. Fine-needle aspiration cytology of mammary sclerosing lobular hyperplasia is said to show characteristic features that include an absence of stromal fragments.

Case presentation

In this article, we describe a case of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia that occurred in the right breast of a 12-year-old girl. Fine-needle aspiration cytology showed some fibroadenoma-like features including the presence of stromal fragments, while branched tubular fragments were not seen. The diagnosis of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia was made on histologic examination that showed preserved acinar architecture with lobular hyperplasia and sclerosis of intralobular and interlobular stroma.

Conclusion

Fine-needle aspiration cytology features of mammary sclerosing lobular hyperplasia are not diagnostic and overlap with those of fibroadenoma; however, a distinction between the two benign entities is of no clinical significance. The definitive diagnosis of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia requires histopathologic evaluation.

Sclerosing lobular hyperplasia: sonographic pathologic correlation

The objective was to evaluate the sonographic findings of sclerosing lobular hyperplasia (SLH) of the breast and to correlate the sonographic findings and the pathologic features. This study consisted of 9 patients with pathologically proven sclerosing lobular hyperplasia who had undergone a preoperative imaging study. We retrospectively reviewed 9 ultrasonograms and 6 mammograms. In each patient mammographic findings including, shape and margin, and ultrasonographic findings including the size, length-to-anteroposterior ratio, shape, margin, internal echo pattern, and the presence and location of internal echogenic septum, were evaluated. Histopathologic correlations focused on characteristic imaging findings. Of the 6 mammograms, 4 cases showed a lobular (3 of 6) or an oval shaped mass (1 of 6) with a partly obscured margin (4 of 6). The remaining 2 cases showed heterogeneously dense breast without visible mass. Ultrasonograms showed a lobular (5 of 9) or an oval (4 of 9) shaped mass with a circumscribed margin (9 of 9). The mean length/anteroposterior ratio was 1.98. Intratumoral echogenic septum was present in 8 cases. Six cases had a peripherally arising septum. Histopathologic review revealed that this septum was correlated to interlobular sclerosis. A peripherally arising intratumoral echogenic septum on ultrasonography seen in SLH might be explained by the interlobular sclerosis.

Naked nuclei revisited: p63 Immunoexpression

The presence of naked nuclei (NN) in cytological preparations of fibroadenomas is a well-known finding. Regardless of their importance on the differential diagnosis of fibroadenoma and other benign lesions of the breast, the origin of NN remains elusive. Despite previous efforts to characterize them, the lack of a reliable nuclear marker for myoepithelial cells impaired definitive conclusions. We performed a systematic evaluation of p63 expression in cytological and histological preparations of 10 fibroadenoma specimens. We observed that in histological sections, p63 was restricted to the nuclei of myoepithelial/basal cells in lobules and ducts of normal breast. In fibroadenomas, p63 decorated the nuclei of myoepithelial cells in the periphery of epithelial duct-like formations and slit-like formations. No p63 immunoreactivity was observed in stromal or epithelial cells. In cytological samples, almost all NN and cells surrounding epithelial cell clusters were stained; no stromal cell admixed with fibrillary matrix or epithelial cell was stained with p63. Based on our findings, we strongly suggest that most, if not all, NN are myoepithelial in origin.