Encapsulated papillary carcinoma, apocrine type, of the breast

The apocrine type of encapsulated papillary carcinoma (ECP-A), of the breast is a rare neoplasm and there are only eight cases reported to date. Herein, we report the ninth case. A 68-year-old Japanese woman presented with a left breast mass. The cytoplasm of the tumour cells showed positive immunostaining for GCDFP-15. Myoepithelial cells were absent within the papillary structures and at the periphery of the lesion. The clinical course of the patient was uneventful 11 months after surgery. We postulate that EPC-A belongs to the molecular apocrine type of breast carcinoma