Benign breast disease

Abstract

Benign conditions of the breast are very common, but they cause great anxiety, often leading the patient to be concerned that she has breast cancer. Symptoms may include: a mass in the breast, commonly due to fibroadenoma, benign cystic change, or macrocysts; discharge from the nipple, which may be caused by hyperprolactinaemia, intraduct papilloma, or duct ectasia; and mastalgia. Management involves exclusion of malignancy, often by triple assessment of any palpable abnormality (clinical examination, radiological and pathological assessment), followed by reassurance, with appropriate specific treatment if required. Suspicious features such as a hard, rugged lump in the breast should prompt triple assessment to exclude malignancy. Other benign conditions of the male breast are very rare and male breast cancers account for less than 1% of all breast cancers in the United Kingdom.