Abstract
Purpose: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours (IMT) are a subcategory of inflammatory pseudotumours (IPT). They arise most commonly in the abdominopelvic region, lung and retroperitoneum, but virtually any anatomical site may be involved. Predominantly children and adolescents are affected and there is a tendency for local recurrence. In the literature up to the present, 20 patients have been reported with an IPT/IMT of the breast. We would like to present another patient with this unusual tumour entity of the breast and discuss the literature. Patient and Examinations: A 23-year-old woman presented with a painless lump in her left breast. There was no history of breast cancer in her family. Sonography showed a hypoechoic heterogeneous solid mass with irregular margins. A core needle biopsy revealed a tumour of high cellularity and a densely collagenous background. Immunohistochemically, the spindle-shaped cells were immunoreactive to smooth muscle actin and ALK-1 protein. Additional FISH analysis proved ALK rearrangements on chromosome 2p23 leading to the diagnosis of an IMT. Wide surgical excision was performed with no evidence of local recurrence after 12 months. Conclusion: Three of the above mentioned 20 patients with IMT/IPT of the breast developed a recurrent tumour, none presented with distant metastasis. A significant recurrence rate of 15 % leads to a clinically and sonographically close follow-up in these patients.