Highlights
- •Failure of the embryologic mammary ridge to atrophy will lead to the formation of glandular tissue anywhere along the milk line.
- •There is rare potential to develop a primary breast malignancy including ductal or lobular carcinomas, as well as benign growths such as pseudoagniomatous stromal hyperplasia (PASH) in ectopic breasts.
- •Radiologic appearance is nonspecific and full workup is required for diagnosis.
- •Elective resection may be considered.
Abstract
Ectopic or accessory breasts describe residual breast tissue that fails to regress
during normal embryologic development anywhere outside the expected locations. Ectopic
breast tissue is seen in 2–6% of the population and is categorized into two types:
supernumerary and aberrant breast tissue . The extent of development of this accessory
tissue varies from rudimentary to complete with organized glandular and ductal development.
Given this, it is possible for the same pathology that affects normally positioned
breast tissue to also affect accessory breast tissue.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 23, 2017
Accepted:
May 10,
2017
Received in revised form:
May 8,
2017
Received:
March 8,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
