Fine needle aspiration of sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis of the breast. A report of two cases.

BACKGROUND

Sclerosing lymphocytic lobulitis (SLL) was described in 1948 by Soler and Khardori as fibrotic disease of the breast with histologic features similar to those of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Associations of this process with thyroiditis, artropathy and diabetes mellitus have been seen.

CASES: We report the fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) findings of two cases of SLL seen in our service. Both patients showed a breast nodule suspicious for malignancy. The cytologic changes vary according to the stage of the disease, from abundant lymphocytes and scanty fibrosis (case 1) to the presence of a few lymphocytes, epithelioid fibroblasts and significant sclerosis (case 2).

CONCLUSION

The cytologic changes seen in FNAB are sufficient to indicate the diagnosis of SLL. The differential diagnosis has to be made with primary breast lymphoma, periductal or perilobular inflammation and different types of sclerosing breast lesions, depending on the stage of the disease.