Microfilaria in breast masquerading as a breast lump: A report of two cases

• Main Authors: Abhay Vilas Deshmukh, Vitaladevuni Balasubramanyam Shivkumar, Vihanka Devchand Vaidya, Nitin M Gangane
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2021-01-01
• Series: Medical Journal of Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth
• Subjects: breast lump; carcinoma breast; fine-needle aspiration cytology; microfilaria
• Online Access: http://www.mjdrdypv.org/article.asp?issn=2589-8302;year=2021;volume=14;issue=1;spage=84;epage=86;aulast=Deshmukh

Filariasis is one of the common health problems in India. Extranodal filariasis occurs rarely, and the breast is one of the uncommon sites. Here, we report two cases of breast filariasis in the middle-aged females presented with a painless lump in the left breast. These cases were clinically mistaken as a malignancy. Cytology smears showed numerous microfilariae in both coiled and uncoiled forms along with benign ductal cells. Thus, the diagnoses of filariasis breast probably arising from intramammary lymph nodes were made in both cases. The patients were treated conservatively, and the recovery was uneventful. Thus, fine-needle aspiration cytology played an important role to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention in these patients.