Pleomorphic Adenoma of Breast:Â Study of a Common Tumor in an Uncommon Location

ABSTRACT

Pleomorphic adenoma occurs commonly in the major salivary glands but is uncommonly encountered in the breast. In both of these locations, the tumor is typically grossly circumscribed and has a ―mixed‖ histological appearance, being composed of myoepithelial and epithelial components amid a myxochondroid matrix. Pleomorphic adenoma of the breast is a rare, benign tumor accounting for 68 cases in the literature. It is most commonly seen in postmenopausal women. Here, we have reported a case of mammary pleomorphic adenoma in an asymptomatic 45-year-old woman which was preoperatively thought to represent a carcinoma on clinical and radiological grounds. It is the rarity of the tumor in the breast, rather than its histological appearance, that causes diagnostic difficulty.