Subareolar breast abscess in male patients: a report of two patients with a literature review

Takashi Kazama; Isao Tabei; Chikako Sekine; Naotake Funamizu; Shinji Onda; Tomoyoshi Okamoto; Hiroshi Takeyama; Toshiaki Morikawa

doi:10.1186/s40792-017-0402-3

Subareolar breast abscess in male patients: a report of two patients with a literature review

Surg Case Rep. 2017 Dec 19;3(1):128. doi: 10.1186/s40792-017-0402-3.

Authors

Takashi Kazama¹, Isao Tabei², Chikako Sekine³, Naotake Funamizu³, Shinji Onda², Tomoyoshi Okamoto², Hiroshi Takeyama⁴, Toshiaki Morikawa⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Jikei University Daisan Hospital, 4-11-1, Izumihoncho, Komae City, Tokyo, 201-8601, Japan. jr_tks@yahoo.co.jp.
² Department of Surgery, Jikei University Daisan Hospital, 4-11-1, Izumihoncho, Komae City, Tokyo, 201-8601, Japan.
³ Department of Surgery, Kawaguchi Municipal Medical Center, Saitama, Japan.
⁴ Department of Respiratory, Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Subareolar breast abscess (SBA) is a rare infectious disease of the breast in male patients.

Case presentation: Herein, we report two male patients with SBA. Patient 1 was initially diagnosed with a malignant tumor based on imaging findings; ultrasonography revealed a hypoechoic mass with blood flow. Patient 2 was diagnosed with inflammatory changes to his nipple; ultrasonography findings supported the diagnosis with an irregular hypoechoic mass with blood flow. Both patients received a cytological or histological biopsy preoperatively, which showed an abscess without malignant cells.

Conclusion: These cases serve as an important reminder to consider complete resection of the tumor including the responsible mammary duct (tumor and duct resection (TDR)) for curative therapy of SBA.

Keywords: Breast abscess; Breast tumor; Duct resection; Fine needle aspiration; Recurrence; Retro-areolar; Smoking; Zuska’s disease.