Case Report

Infiltrating myoepithelial carcinoma of the breast, a case report and cytologic-histologic correlation

Daniel Lingamfelter¹ , Yayan Chen² , Kiyoe Kure¹ and Kamani Lankachandra¹

¹  Department of Pathology, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and Truman Medical Centers, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

²  Department of Pathology, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA

author email corresponding author email

Diagnostic Pathology 2008, 3:7doi:10.1186/1746-1596-3-7

Published:	8 February 2008

Abstract

Introduction

Infiltrating myoepithelial carcinoma remains a rarely encountered lesion of the breast. The few cases that have surfaced firmly document the histopathology of this tumor, but its cytologic characteristics seemingly have been described in only one other report.

Case presentation

Here we present the cytologic findings from a case of infiltrating myoepithelial carcinoma of the breast in a 52-year-old female and provide a histologic correlation with the subsequent biopsy and mastectomy specimens. While the cytology specimens displayed more myoepithelial cellular heterogeneity than was present on histology, a number of cytologic features including hypercellularity, pleomorphic spindle cells, and mitotic activity correlated well with the histopathology.

Conclusion

The role of fine needle aspiration in the diagnosis of mammary myoepithelial carcinoma, in this case, was to establish malignancy rather than to arrive at a specific diagnosis, as a number of different entities potentially can mimic this neoplasm on cytologic specimens.