Breast sparganosis: a case report

A 57-year-old Korean female patient presented with a migrated palpable left breast mass. Physical examination revealed a 3-cm soft, non-tender mass in the upper inner quadrant of her left breast. Mammography showed 8.2-cm extended nodular and tortuous tubular masses in the upper portion of her left breast. Ultrasonography revealed a 5.8-cm extended nodular, tortuous tubular and hypoechoic to anechoic lesion in the subcutaneous mammary parenchymal layer. A lumpectomy was conducted and revealed a 30-cm live tapeworm. Histopathologic examination of the excised breast tissue revealed chronic granulomatous inflammation and eosinophilic infiltration by a parasitic organism, which was confirmed as a sparganum. After surgery, the patient was treated with a single dose of praziquantel and albendazole. Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan are known to have high endemicity of sparganosis, mostly because of their dietary customs. When examining patients from these countries, sparganosis should be considered because of the unique dietary customs despite the high level of hygiene.