ABSTRACT

Tubercular mastitis is a great masquerader. It is a sporadic form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis presenting as a solitary breast mass. It mimics breast carcinoma as it is solitary, hard and often associated with axillary lymphadenopathy. We present here a case of a young lady who presented with a unilateral breast mass and axillary lymphadenopathy initially suspected to be breast malignancy. USG breast showed a hypoechoic lesion along the ducts in the left breast with a few axillary lymph nodes. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the lesion was done, which showed epithelioid granulomas with caseation necrosis, suggestive of tuberculosis. She was treated with antitubercular drugs for ten months. She was monitored clinically and radiologically with serial ultrasound scans. There was complete resolution of the lesion after completing ten months of antitubercular therapy. There are only few reports of breast tuberculosis in the literature, and hence we decided to review the latest diagnostic techniques and management of this rare illness.