Abstract

Background: Breast hamartomas are rare benign tumours and not only histological, but also clinical features are indispensable for the diagnosis of this disease. We report a case of a mammary hamartoma and analyze the diagnostic difficulties of this rare entity.
Case Report: We describe such a case of a 43-year-old woman, who displayed a slowly growing mass in her left breast. Mammography and breast ultrasonography detected the presence of a breast lesion with benign characters, but were not diagnostic. The tumor was well demarcated and had a soft consistency. Local excision of the mass was performed and histological essay revealed that the lesion was characterized by the fact, that although each of the histological components seemed to be normal, their constitution was disorganized and mainly consisted of predominant fibrous interstitial elements. Microscopical findings established the diagnosis of mammary hamartoma. The patient is well 12 months later, without tumor recurrence.
Conclusions: Mammary hamartoma has been considered as an underdiagnosed entity, but with the development of diagnostic procedures in breast tumours, the number of hamartomas has increased in the last years. Because there is no distinct pathological feature, a correlation with the clinical findings and image techniques is necessary in order to achieve a correct diagnosis of the pathology.

Keywords: Hamartoma, benign, breast tumor