Skip Navigation


QJM Advance Access originally published online on December 6, 2006
QJM 2007 100(1):59; doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcl128
This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
100/1/59    most recent
hcl128v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Marie, I.
Right arrow Articles by Levesque, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Marie, I.
Right arrow Articles by Levesque, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Tuberculous myositis mimicking breast cancer

Professor I. Marie, Dr. F. Hervé, Dr. S. Robaday and Dr. H. Levesque

Department of Internal Medicine, Rouen University Hospital, Rouen, France.

e-mail: isabelle.marie{at}chu-rouen.fr

A 63-year-old man, with unremarkable previous medical history, was admitted with a tender mass in the right breast that had been evolving for 3 months. Mammography showed an opaque mass within the right retromammary region; a thoracic CT scan showed a heterogeneous mass in the same area. MRI demonstrated: (i) a heterogeneous lesion involving the right pectoral muscle (10 cm in diameter) enhanced after intravenous gadolinium on T1-weighted images; and (ii) a heterogeneous high-signal intensity involving the pectoral muscle on T2-weighted images.

Surgical exploration revealed a necrotic abscess within the pectoral muscle. Histological analysis of muscle biopsy specimens showed granulomatous nodules composed of epithelioid histiocytes, multinucleated giant cells, and caseous necrosis damage; Ziehl-Neelsen staining yielded acid-fast bacilli in muscle biopsy specimens, and polymerase chain reaction for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex further proved positive. Cultures grew M. tuberculosis. Other investigations, including gastric aspiration and urine cultures, were negative for M. tuberculosis.

Muscle involvement is a rare complication of tuberculosis, occurring in 0.01–1.8% of patients; it is more often limited to a single muscle (principally the quadriceps femoris). Internists should be aware that tuberculous myositis may mimic breast cancer, resulting in earlier diagnosis and therapy. MRI may be useful in the management of tuberculous myositis, in delineating the anatomical extent of muscle lesions, and guiding the surgeons in debridement.

Formula


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
100/1/59    most recent
hcl128v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Marie, I.
Right arrow Articles by Levesque, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Marie, I.
Right arrow Articles by Levesque, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?