Male breast cancer is rare: an initial presentation may be as an abscess

Breast cancer in men is rare. Breast cancer presenting initially as an abscess has been described only a handful of times in the literature. We present the first described case of invasive adenocarcinoma presenting as an abscess in a man. An 80-year-old diabetic man presented with symptoms typical of a breast abscess. The abscess failed to respond to percutaneous therapy and excision of breast abscess was performed. Histology revealed an invasive carcinoma. He went on to have a mastectomy. Histology should be obtained from breast abscesses not resolving within 2 months of initial percutaneous therapy. Histology could be obtained by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA), core or vacuum assisted biopsy, or by formal incision and drainage.