Axillary apocrine adenocarcinoma in a young male suspected initially on fine-needle aspiration cytology

Primary apocrine sweat gland adenocarcinomas are a rare entity, with only a few case reports so far. Many of these carcinomas are slow-growing with a high recurrence rate. A distinct cytological diagnosis can be made, and metastatic adenocarcinomas are always considered as a differential diagnosis on cytology. Our case was a 35-year-old male who presented with a discharging axillary sinus and swelling for the past 1 year. A clinical suspicion of tuberculous sinus was raised that however, remained unsupported by laboratory investigations. There was quite a high suspicion of apocrine adenocarcinoma on cytological examination that was confirmed by histopathology and immunohistochemistry. The patient was successfully treated with total excision and a wide margin. We report this case in view of its rarity and its occurrence in a 35-year-old young male, and emphasize that an initial cytological suspicion should be raised for primary apocrine adenocarcinoma in case of an axillary tumor, especially keeping in consideration the poor prognosis of the same and chances of early metastasis.