Synchronous bilateral breast carcinomas with divergent radiographic presentations: Radiologic–pathologic correlation of invasive mucinous and ductal carcinomas

Abstract

The differential diagnosis of well-circumscribed breast masses on imaging includes mostly benign tumors. A potential pitfall in diagnostic breast imaging is that 10–20% of malignancies appear as lesions with benign imaging characteristics. This report presents a case of synchronous bilateral breast masses, one of which demonstrated benign imaging characteristics (well circumscribed) and the second of which demonstrated suspicious imaging characteristics (spiculated and indistinct). After radiologic–pathologic correlation, it was found that the well-circumscribed mass of the right breast was an invasive mucinous carcinoma, and the spiculated indistinct mass of the left breast was an invasive ductal carcinoma. This highlights a possible hazard of diagnostic imaging in the setting of benign-appearing lesions, and underscores the importance of radiographic–pathologic correlation in the evaluation of breast masses.

Keywords

• Radiology-pathology correlation
• Mucinous carcinoma
• Ductal carcinoma