A 23-year-old lady was driving her car when she had to apply brakes suddenly. She suffered from “steering wheel” injury in the right breast. After 5 days of pain and tenderness at the site of trauma, she noticed the presence of “lump” which was persistent since the day of trauma. Dr. M. Spartan does an excision biopsy and observed the presence of an amorphous basophilic material within the mass. The amorphous material is an example of
The situation described above is a typical description of a traumatic fat necrosis. This condition needs to be distinguished from enzymatic fat necrosis. The hint is in the stem of the question which describes the presence of amorphous basophilic material. This is suggestive of calcification and such pattern of calcification of previous damaged tissue is termed dystrophic calcification. Dystrophic calcification has normal serum calcium levels whereas metastatic classification is associated with increased calcium levels.
Apocrine metaplasia
Dystrophic fat necrosis
Enzymatic fat necrosis
Granulomatous inflammation