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Definition
Breast fat necrosis is a benign nonsuppurative inflammatory process of adipose tissue usually complicating breast trauma, breast surgery, or radiation treatment. It was initially described in 1920 by Lee, BE & Munzer, JT.
Clinical Features
The etiological factors include trauma or microtrauma, radiotherapy, biopsy, anticoagulation (warfarin), surgery, duct ectasia, and breast infections (Tan et al. 2006; Kaplan et al. 2005). The breast can be injured in a motor vehicle accident, which occurs in 16% of cases of seat belt-restrained victims. Fat necrosis was observed secondary to the direct injection of silicone or paraffin into the breast. Transplantation of a large amount of autologous fat can result in fat necrosis, because fat cells are not nourished adequately until neovascularization occurs. Other rare causes include polyarteriitis nodosa, Weber-Christiandisease, and granulomatous angiopanniculitis. Sometimes, the cause of fat necrosis...
References and Further Reading
Bowman, E., Oprea, G., Okolo, J., Rizzo, M., Garram-Mendola, S., Manne, U., Smith, G., Pambuccian, S., & Bumpers, H. L. (2012). Pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia (PASH) of the breast: A series of 24 patients. Breast, 18, 242–247.
Chala, L. F., de Barros, N., de Camargo Moraes, P., Endo, E., Kim, S. J., Pincerato, K. M., Carvalho, F. M., & Cerri, G. G. (2004). Fat necrosis of the breast: Mammographic, sonographic, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging findings. Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology, 33, 106–126.
Kaplan, V., Kelley, C. J., & Babu, E. D. (2005). Fat necrosis of the breast – A review. The Breast, 15, 313–318.
Lee, B. E., & Munzer, J. T. (1920). Fat necrosis of the female breast and its differentiation from carcinoma. Annals of Surgery, 37, 188–195.
Taboada, J. L., Stephens, T. W., Krishnamurthy, S., Brandt, K. R., & Whitman, G. J. (2009). The many faces of fat necrosis in the breast. American Journal of Roentgenology, 192, 815–825.
Tan, P. H., Lai, L. M., Carrington, E. V., Opaluwa, A. S., Ravikumar, K. H., Chetty, N., Kaplan, V., Kelley, C. J., & Babu, E. D. (2006). Fat necrosis of the breast – A review. The Breast, 15, 313–318.
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Liepniece-Karele, I., Isajevs, S. (2018). Breast Fat Necrosis. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_4748-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_4748-1
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