Invasive Papillary Breast Carcinoma: Mammographic and Sonographic Appearance

A retrospective study of the records of xeromammographic examinations of 940 patients with invasive carcinoma of the breast diagnosed during an 11-year period in an out-patient facility yielded four cases of invasive papillary carcinoma. In each of these four patients, xeromammography demonstrated multiple, round or oval, circumscribed areas of density in one quadrant of a breast. Sonographic examination of three patients showed the lesions to be solid. Two patients had previously had multiple benign intraductal papillomas, and one patient had had a solitary papilloma in the same breast. The possible association of invasive papillary carcinoma with previous multiple intraductal papillomas suggests that close clinical and radiographic monitoring of these patients may be necessary.