Paget's Disease of the Breast: Report of Five Cases and Review of the Japanese Literature

Five cases of Paget's disease of the breast are presented, and 76 cases reported in the Japanese literature are analyzed. Paget's disease of the breast is often confined to the nipple-areolar complex(68%), and the duration of symptoms issometimes more than 5 years(25%). Paget's disease without palpable tumor in theunderlying breast is characterized by a low incidence of invasive ductal carcinoma(8%), lymph node metastasis(8%), and stage II or greater disease(0%). These cases indicate that Paget's disease without palpable breast tumor has less aggressive behavior and more benign course than that with palpable breast tumor, and local excision and/or radiation therapy may be an alternative to mastectomy as the initial treatment.