What could a lump in the breast be?

Every woman wants to maintain healthy breasts, but due to various reasons, many women develop lumps in their breasts. Many women are particularly worried about lumps in their breasts. Therefore, many women in this situation want to fully understand what disease the lumps in the breasts may cause. A detailed introduction is given below so that you can have a comprehensive understanding.

Most people accidentally feel a lump the size of a pigeon egg on their breast that is painless and slippery. It is often a breast fibroid.

Breast fibroadenoma is a mixed tumor of fibrous tissue and glandular epithelium occurring in the mammary lobule and is the most common type of benign breast tumor. It can occur in women of any age after puberty, but is more common in young women aged 18 to 25, although it can also occur in men. The occurrence of this disease is related to endocrine hormone imbalance, such as relative or absolute increase in estrogen can cause this disease. So during pregnancy, the tumor grows particularly fast!

Cause: The cause of this disease is the abnormally increased sensitivity of lobular fibroblasts to estrogen, which may be related to the abnormality of the quantity or quality of estrogen receptors contained in the fibroblasts. Estrogen is the stimulating factor for the occurrence of this disease, so fibroadenoma occurs during the ovarian functional period.

Breast fibroids are mostly found accidentally as lumps in the breast. Two-thirds of the lumps are 1 to 3 cm in size, with some being over 10 cm in size and the largest being up to 24 cm. The lesions are mostly located on the upper outside of the breast, mostly solitary, a few are multiple, round or oval in shape, with clear boundaries, smooth surface, toughness, good mobility, and no adhesion to the epidermis and pectoral muscles.

Most of them are painless lumps, and only 14% have mild pain, which is intermittent or occasional or stimulated during menstruation.

sometimes. There is clear discharge from the nipple, but it is rare, accounting for about 0.75%. . Axillary lymph nodes are not enlarged.

This tumor is more common in young women. It usually presents as a painless breast lump that often grows slowly.

Physical examination may reveal that the breast lumps are oval or elliptical in shape; they vary in size, from as small as a cherry to as large as 10 cm in diameter (if the diameter of the tumor is ≥7 cm, it is called a giant fibroadenoma); they are as hard as hard rubber, with a smooth surface, clear boundaries, no adhesion to surrounding tissues, and easy to slide when touched. The tumors may be multiple. Breast X-ray, B-ultrasound, and infrared thermal imaging can be performed to help with diagnosis.

(1) In mammography examination, for patients with a lot of breast fat, fibroadenomas appear as round or shadow-like masses with smooth and sharp edges and uniform density. In some cases, a thin layer of translucent halo may be seen around the tumor. No hypervascularity was observed. In dense breasts, the tumor does not show up clearly on X-rays because the density is similar to that of breast tissue. Some tumors may undergo calcification, which may be in the form of flakes or coarse-grained calcification foci with irregular outlines, ranging in size from 1 to 25 mm, which is completely different from the fine sand-grained calcification of breast cancer.

(2) Ultrasound examination Ultrasound examination can show the soft tissue structure at each level of the breast and the shape, size and density of the mass. The tumor body of fibroadenoma is mostly a round or oval low-echo area with clear and neat boundaries, uniform internal echo distribution, appearing as weak light spots, complete posterior wall lines, and lateral acoustic shadows. The echo behind the tumor is enhanced. If there is calcification, an acoustic shadow may appear behind the calcification point. In recent years, the use of color Doppler ultrasound to detect the blood status of breast tumors to determine whether the tumor is benign or malignant has been very helpful in diagnosing this disease.

(3) Fine needle aspiration cytology examination shows that the needle feels between tough and brittle, and the number of cells aspirated is usually large. The ductal epithelial cells are mostly distributed in clusters and sheets, arranged neatly and without overlapping, like bricks, and have a large number of bipolar naked-nucleated cells. The diagnostic conformity rate is over 90%. A few cells have larger nuclei, obvious heteromorphism, rough chromatin, and cells of varying sizes, which may be misdiagnosed as cancer and cause false positives. Special attention should be paid.

(4) Infrared scanning shows that the tumor and surrounding breast tissue have basically the same light transmittance, or appear as a relatively sharp-edged gray shadow with no shadows of surrounding vascular changes.

treat

Although breast fibroadenomas are benign, they may become malignant, and malignant tumors cannot be ruled out before surgical resection and pathological examination. Therefore, once discovered, they should be surgically removed. The surgery can be performed under local anesthesia. After the tumor is exposed, it is removed en bloc along with its capsule. The removed tumor must be routinely subjected to pathological examination to rule out the possibility of malignant lesions.

prevention

1. Take care of your breasts and keep having physical examinations

Women of all ages should perform breast self-examination after their menstrual period ends each month. Women over 30 should have a physical examination at a breast specialist every year, and women over 40 should have a physical examination at a specialist every six months to ensure early detection and treatment.

2. Maintain a good attitude and a healthy pace of life

Overcoming bad eating habits and hobbies and having a regular work and life are effective ways to prevent breast diseases.

3. Treat breast diseases correctly and don’t be afraid to seek medical treatment

If you find a lump in your breast, immediately seek examination from a breast specialist and seek treatment. Although breast fibroadenoma is a benign tumor, it may also become malignant, especially if the tumor grows rapidly during pregnancy or lactation, or if the patient is older, has a long course of disease, or has breast hyperplasia or multiple recurrences. In this case, you should be vigilant, seek medical attention in time, and prevent changes in your condition. Every female friend should take early prevention, early detection and early treatment, and pay special attention to their breasts.

What disease is it that has lumps in the breast? The above content has given a detailed introduction. I believe that many women have already understood what disease is it that has lumps in the breast through the above comprehensive understanding. Therefore, after a comprehensive understanding, in order to ensure the health of the breast, you must go to a regular hospital and receive comprehensive treatment to make the lumps in your breast disappear as soon as possible through treatment.