Breast-axillary complex in HIV/AIDS patients

HIV/AIDS have not only increased the health care burden especially in developing countries, it equally complicates the presentation of many diseases. Some well known disease entities now occur in fulminant complexities not previously described or known as such. The objective of this article is to report an unusual presentation of HIV/AIDS patients to the surgeon with Axillary and ipsilateral breast swelling.

This is a report of three cases seen and managed by the authors.

Three adult female patients presented with progressively increasing axillary and ipsilateral breast swellings. They also had associated fevers and weight loss. Their main concern had been development of breast cancer. One of the patients was a known retroviral positive on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART). Examination revealed axillary abscess and ipsilateral breast oedema in two cases. The patient on HAART had a hard breast-axillary mass complex. Biopsy (FNAB) revealed inflammatory cells and no malignancy in all three cases. HIV screening was positive in all cases. One of the patients had excision of breast-axillary mass complex, and the histology showed features of chronic inflammation, with no malignant cells. The other two had incision and drainage of their axillary abscess.

This shows the ubiquitous presentation of HIV/AIDS in our environment and surgeons should be aware of the breast axillary complex in HIV/AIDS. Medical practitioners should be careful to obtain accurate diagnosis before embarking on treatment especially mutilating surgical procedures.