The autoantibody, human lymphocyte

The autoantibody, human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) status and disease associationsrequire confirmation in a considerably larger series ofpatients. The association of lymphocytic infiltration with. epithelial . changes may . be reminiscent of - classical Ha-shimoto's thyroiditis and Sjögren 's syndrome [2, 6]. Thesepathological similarities raise the possibility that lympho-cytic mastopathy could be an antecedent of mammarylymphoma, comparable with the close relationship betweenchronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and thyroid lymphomas, orSjögren's syndrome and salivary gland lymphoma. Aozasaet al. suggested that most mammary lymphomas are B-celltumors and that they may be associated with coexisting orantecedentlymphocytic mastopathy[].Fortunately,patients with lymphocytic mastopathy are not at increasedrisk of mammary B -cell lymphomas despite the marked B-cell infiltrates and frequent presence of lymphoepitheliallesions [18]. However, the number of patients is small, andcareful long-term follow-up of our case and additionalcases will be necessary to determine the natural history ofthis condition. We report a unique case of lymphocyticmastopathy that demonstrated clinical and imaging featuresmimicking primary breast lymphoma.