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61 year old female with right breast calcification.
Amyloid deposition is an extracellular deposit of proteins as fibrillar beta-pleated sheets. These deposits can be prone to calcify and present as breast calcifications in a patient undergoing breast cancer screening. In this case, there is abundant dense, amorphous pink material scattered within the breast tissue and associated with calcifications. There is no associated ductal component. There are scattered areas with giant cell reaction and foci with abundant plasma cells.
An important differential to amyloid in the breast is dense collagen that may be seen in hyalinized fibroadenoma or sclerosing lesions. These differentials could be ruled out by Congo red stain. A significant amount of cases of amyloidosis in breast are associated with hematological disorders (Said, SM, et al.). This patient also has an incidental plasma cell neoplasm.
See related content for references:
1) Said SM, et al. Mod Pathol. 2013 Feb;26(2):232-8.