DIABETIC MASTOPATHY - A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY IN PALPABLE AND NONPALPABLE BREAST-LESIONS

Diabetic mastopathy is a distinct clinicopathologic entity with specif ic histopathologic characteristics which include keloidal fibrosis, ep ithelioid fibroblasts, widespread periductal/lobular lymphocytic infil tration, and widespread perivascular lymphocytic infiltration. We repo rt the clinical and histopathologic breast tissue findings of 20 patie nts with diabetes mellitus as compared to 20 age-matched controls. The control patients also were matched for diseases other than diabetes m ellitus, All patients with diabetes mellitus showed at least one of th e histologic findings of diabetic mastopathy: 13 patients (65%) showed all four histopathologic characteristics; one patient showed three; o ne patient showed two; and five patients showed one feature. The 20 co ntrol patients did not demonstrate any of the four histopathologic fea tures of diabetic mastopathy. We confirm previously reported findings of diabetic mastopathy presenting as palpable breast masses in insulin -dependent diabetics. However, we also suggest that diabetic mastopath y should be expanded to include the histopathologic findings character istic in diabetic patients with nonpalpable mammographic abnormalities and breast tissue distant to the site of involvement by carcinoma.