Mucinous Breast Carcinoma: Anatomo-Clinical Radiological and Therapeutic Features

Introduction: Mucinous carcinoma of the breast constitutes 1% to 4% of all breast cancers.Two different forms of presentation are distinguished: pure mucinous carcinoma and mixed mucinous carcinoma.The purpose of our work was to clarify the anatomo-clinical and radiological particularities of this rare form of breast cancer.Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study of a series of 14 cases of mucinous carcinoma of the breast, including 8 pure mucinous carcinomas and 6 mixed mucinous carcinomas treated at the Maternity and Neonatal Center of Monastir between January 2009 and December 2017.Results: The frequency of mucinous carcinoma of the breast in our study period was 1.9%.The average of the patients was 55 years old.The average tumor size was 40 mm.Mucinous carcinoma of the breast was pure in 8 cases, mixed in 6 cases.The clinical size of pure CM was smaller than that of mixed CM (41 mm vs 45 mm) [p = 0.12].Axillary adenopathies were found in 28.5% of patients.Mammography detected a total of 19 masses with three cases of multifocality.The average size was 27 mm, there was no significant difference between subtype sizes.Pure CMs had an oval shape in 83% of the cases with microlobulated contours in half of the cases, mixed CM rather had an irregular shape (71%) with indistinct contours (85%) (p = 0.01/p = 0.04).On ultrasound, pure CMs had a homogeneous hypoechogenic oval mass appearance with microlobulated contours enhancing ultrasound.The mixed CMs had an irregular shape of non-geometric contours and heterogeneous hypoechogenic appearance with posterior ultrasound attenuation (p = 0.06).Microcalcifications were present in 37% of pure CM and 60% of mixed CM (p = 0.13).Ganglionic invasion was noted in 28% of cases.The extension assessment was negative in all cases.The tumors were of low histological