A rare case of tuberculous mastitis mimicking breast carcinoma A rare case of tuberculous mastitis mimicking breast carcinoma

Abstract

There have been an increasing number of tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide, but TB of the breast remains
rare. In rare cases, this is seen with a cutaneous manifestation of erythema nodosum. We report the case of
a 33-year-old woman with TB of the left breast accompanied by erythema nodosum on the anterior aspect
of both lower legs and dorsum of feet. Due to her poor clinical response to conventional therapy, and the
histopathological findings of fine-needle aspiration cytology with epithelioid granuloma with caseation,
there were strong indications of TB. She received antituberculous therapy (ATT) for 6 months. During
her follow-up examination after 6 months, no evidence of either residual or recurrent disease was present.
Histopathological features and a high index of clinical suspicion are necessary to confirm a diagnosis of
TB of the breast. ATT with or without simple surgical intervention is the core treatment.