FNAC diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast in a young female: A rare case report with review of literature

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the breast although rare and unusual, can be very emphatically diagnosed on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) by applying correct cytological principles. A pathologist should be aware of its benign and malignant mimickers so that a correct diagnosis is rendered in all such cases. This is important because ACC of the breast has an excellent prognosis with rare lymph node and distant metastasis. Biologically also, it behaves differently from other breast malignancies because ACC of the breast are hormonally nonreactive (ER/PR negative). Hence a simple FNAC procedure can hasten the diagnosis and can lead to reduced morbidity (decreased duration of hospitalization and complications associated with biopsy procedure) and also avoid radical mastectomy with axillary lymph node clearance in cases of ACC of the breast.