Mammary sarcoidosis. Two cases and literature review

A patient with sarcoidosis had a biopsy of a firm nontender breast nodule that at analysis disclosed multiple noncaseating granulomas. In another patient with sarcoidosis, noncaseating granulomas were an incidental finding in a mastectomy specimen containing medullary carcinoma and in two subsequent biopsy specimens of the contralateral benign breast. Tests for acid-fast bacteria and fungi using special stains were negative in both cases. There are nine other histologically documented cases of mammary involvement with sarcoidosis. Since the lesions of mammary sarcoidosis often cannot be distinguished from those of carcinoma by physical examination, we suggest that clinically suspicious lesions undergo biopsy whether or not disseminated sarcoidosis is present.