Melanocyte colonization and pigmentation of breast carcinoma: A case report

Pigmented mammary Paget disease is a rare variant of mammary Paget disease that is often clinically misdiagnosed as a melanocytic lesion of the skin or nipple-areolar complex. Careful morphological assessment, along with the performance of adequate immunohistochemical stains, will help in achieving the right diagnosis and avoiding misdiagnosis of the entity as malignant melanoma. We report a rare case of pigmented mammary Paget disease with concomitant colonization of the underlying invasive ductal carcinoma by melanocytes mimicking melanoma.

Automated summary

Pigmented mammary Paget disease is a rare variant of mammary Paget disease that is often misdiagnosed as a melanocytic lesion. Careful morphological assessment and adequate immunohistochemical stains can help to achieve the correct diagnosis and avoid misdiagnosis as malignant melanoma.