Breast hamartoma: A clinicopathological analysis and management of cases in our institute over the past decade

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: This study shares our journey with breast hamartoma at our institute VIMSAR, BURLA over the past decade (2014-2024).

Background: Breast hamartoma, a rare type of breast tumor, makes up about 4.8% of all benign breast masses. People don’t talk about it often. The cause still a bit of a mystery. Many folks don’t know much about its unique and features. Because of this, doctors & pathologists sometimes miss the diagnosis.

Materials and Methods: We looked back at our surgery department records from 2014 to 2024. We wanted to find patients who had been diagnosed and operated on for breast hamartomas during this time at VIMSAR (Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research) in Burla.

Results: In total, we found 12 cases of breast hamartoma operated in VIMSAR’s (Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research) General Surgery Department. All the patients were women, and their average age was 38.2 years (with some variation of 10.8 years). The average size of the tumors was 4.2 cm (with a range of 2.6 cm). Every patient got a breast ultrasound before their surgery. The most common extra finding was epithelial hyperplasia, which appeared in 22.2% of cases. We also found lobular carcinoma in situ in one case and invasive ductal carcinoma in another case (8.3% each).

Conclusion: Breast hamartomas are uncommon benign growths that might not get diagnosed correctly since they are often seen as fibroadenomas by pathologists. The results from examinations can really differ from one case to the next! Because of that, we think the actual number might be higher than we think.