Fat Necrosis of the Breast: A Pictorial Review of the Mammographic, Ultrasound, CT, and MRI Findings with Histopathologic Correlation

Figure 2

51-year-old female with history of right lobular carcinoma in situ status after lumpectomy and radiation now with palpable lump. Right breast mediolateral oblique and craniocaudal projections ((a) and (b)) demonstrate a radiolucent lobular mass at site of palpable mass (arrow). Targeted ultrasound (c) at site of palpable mass shows a lobular heterogeneous hypoechoic mass with posterior acoustic shadowing. Axial T1-weighted fat saturation after gadolinium, T2-weighted nonfat saturation, and subtraction images ((d)–(f)) demonstrate a mass at 11 o’clock in the right breast anteriorly that follows fat signal on all sequences with thin rim enhancement (arrow). Histologically, tissue specimen ((g); H&E, 400x) demonstrating dead, anucleated adipocytes intermixed with foamy histiocytes.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)