Diagnostic and therapeutic management of diabetic mastopathy: a case report

Sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis (SLL) is a benign breast lesion, better known as diabetic mastopathy (DMP), since it tipically occurs in diabetic patients. This very uncommon condition is strongly associated with type I diabetes mellitus. We report a case of a 61-year-old woman, with type II insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, who presented mammography and ultrasonography images suspicious for breast carcinoma. As histopathology surprisingly demonstrated SLL and breast MRI showed benign characteristics, unnecessary surgery was avoided. The aim of this report is to underline that DMP is an uncommon clinicopathological entity which can clinically and radiologically mimic breast cancer but also that breast carcinoma may be hidden within these dense fibrotic lesions. In the light of cases reported in literature, breast MRI can be considered an essential tool in the diagnostic and therapeutic management of DMP.