A 39-year-old female with history of breast mass excision 4 months prior. The histopathology report during this time was fibroadenoma. A month postop, there was a recurrence of a mass on the same breast. The mass was observed to be fast growing in size, at a rate of about 1 cm per month. The mass had reached 4 cm in size in 4-months time. A reoperation (wide excision) was done with a working diagnosis of phyllodes tumor which was confirmed by a histopathology report.
This is the second time in my many years of medical practice that I have seen a solid breast mass growing very fast under my watchful eyes. Both turned out to be phyllodes tumor and both presented grossly with uniformly solid tumor with no cystic areas that are usually seen in large phyllodes tumor.
Uniformly solid fibrous tumor, grossly looking like a fibroadenoma, and not the usual phyllodes with solid and cystic areas as seen below.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/santoshpath
Phyllodes tumor of the breast is an uncommon benign breast tumor which usually grows very fast. Treatment is an operation which can range from a wide excision to total mastectomy depending on the size of the tumor at time of diagnosis and treatment.
ROJ@16apr21
