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Case report demonstrates duct ectasia mimicking breast cancer in a woman with a RAD51C variant and highlights endocrine links.
Mammary duct ectasia is a benign breast condition that can mimic malignancy on MRI. We describe a woman with a pathogenic RAD51C variant who entered high-risk MRI surveillance at age 53 and was found to have segmental non-mass enhancement in the central left breast. MRI-guided core biopsy demonstrated duct ectasia with inspissated eosinophilic secretions, dense periductal lymphoplasmacytic inflammation with concentric fibrosis, and coarse microcalcifications without epithelial atypia or carcinoma. Her history included hyperprolactinemia from a growth hormone- and prolactin-positive pituitary adenoma diagnosed at age 41 and treated surgically, raising the possibility of an endocrine contribution to ductal dilatation and secretory stasis. This case emphasizes the importance of radiologic-pathologic correlation to avoid overdiagnosis while highlighting a potential link between long-standing hyperprolactinemia and mammary duct ectasia in susceptible patients.
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Ijaz et al. (2026) studied this question.
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