Annals of Clinical Cytology and Pathology

To reach a morphological diagnosis of apocrine carcinoma (AC) of the breast, cytopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) was employed. Mammography showed an ill-defined mass in the central quadrant of the right breast. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology showed that many fine granules were scattered throughout the necrotic background of the smear. AC cells were characterized by abundant cytoplasm with eosinophilic, dense to granular and foamy cytoplasm and eccentric nucleus. Bi nuclei and intranuclear vacuoles were noted in the tumor cells. The features of nuclei were as follows; anisocytosis, hyperchromasia, pleomorphism and oval to round shape with centrally located large nucleoli. The IHC showed that these tumor cells were diffusely positive for androgen receptor (AR) and gross cystic disease fluid protein-15 (GCDFP-15). Histopathology of the operatively resected breast and core needle biopsy (CNB)materials showed that most of tumor cells were consisted with abundant cytoplasm with eosinophilic granules, vesicular cytoplasm, and sheet-like proliferation and anisocytotic nuclei. The nucleus was round to oval shape with centrally located large nucleoli. The IHC showed diffusely positive for MIB-1, HER2, AR and GCDFP-15.However, estrogen receptor(ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) showed no immune activity.

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