Five cases are presented which illustrate the spectrum of mammographic features of traumatic fat necrosis. The appearances vary from one indistinguishable from carcinoma to single or multiple lipid-filled cysts with or without calcified walls. Branching, rodlike, or angular microcalcifications associated with fat necrosis may resemble the calcifications associated with carcinoma. A location close to the skin or areola is a clue that the lesion may have resulted from blunt or surgical trauma. A review of these cases leads us to the important conclusion that while breast carcinoma in some cases has characteristic radiographic findings, there are no "pathognomonic" findings.
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Bassett et al. (1978) studied this question.