No abstract

Before the widespread use of silicone implants various foreign substances were injected directly into the breasts. The nature of these materials sometimes remains unknown and can cause various complications requiring surgical intervention. Preoperative diagnostic imaging can help characterise the type and distribution of the injected material, thereby assisting in making decisions regarding treatment. We report a case of breast augmentation with an unknown substance, aiming to highlight some imaging characteristics of different breast augmentation substances.

Audit of contrast-enhanced breast MRI performed over a 3-year period in a single institution to describe and summarise the changes seen after surgery and radiation therapy for primary breast cancer, breast augmentation and oncoplastic surgery. Seventy women were identified and reviewed (100 breast MRIs in total). The most common change seen was haemosiderin deposition. The early changes of skin thickening, oedema, seroma and background parenchymal enhancement decreased with time leaving residual breast shrinkage, haemosiderin/calcification and architectural distortion due to fibrosis and scarring.

A forty-six-year-old female presented with a history of left axillary pain, discomfort, chronic fatigue and palpitations. Clinical examination revealed large, tender nodules in the left axilla which were thought to represent enlarged axillary lymph nodes. Multiple dilated veins were visible in the left axillary region. The patient was diagnosed with Mondor's disease based on the typical mammographic and ultrasound features. Mondor's disease of the breast is an uncommon, usually benign, self-limiting disease, which usually requires conservative treatment and follow-up.

Breast calcifications are among the most common abnormal radiographic findings detected at screening mammography. This essay illustrates the clinico-pathological features of nine screen-detected breast carcinomas, which had benign-appearing macrocalcifications, as a radiographically dominant presenting feature. We aimed to demonstrate that benign-appearing calcifications within a breast lesion are not diagnostic of a benign process if the other imaging characteristics of the lesion are suspicious of malignancy.