Ultrasonography of breast hamartomas

The authors present the breast ultrasound findings of nine women with mammographic abnormalities typical of breast hamartomas. Two of the mammographically detected hamartomas could not be identified at breast ultrasound. Six hamartomas were well-circumscribed masses of heterogeneous echogenicity with no posterior acoustic shadowing. One lesion was a well-defined hypo-echoic mass with no posterior shadowing. We conclude that many mammographically and clinically detected hamartomas can be clearly identified at breast ultrasound. The breast sonographer should be aware of the spectrum of appearances that may occur. When a breast abnormality has the characteristic mammographic appearances of a hamartoma, it may be counterproductive to perform an additional breast ultrasound.