Tuberculosis of the breast: A case report in a tertiary health institution, South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) of the breast is a rare disease that typically affects women of reproductive age, mainly between 15 and 25 years of age. TB of the breast has a non-specific clinical presentation and may present as a breast lump, abscess, or sinus, and it may sometimes mimic breast cancer. Histological diagnosis is necessary to avoid mismanagement of potentially curable breast disease. We present a case of an 18-year-old female with a left upper quadrant breast lump of 1-year duration. The fine-needle aspiration cytology of the breast lump was negative for malignancy. However, histological diagnosis of the excised breast lump confirmed TB of the breast.