Which department should I go to if I have breast discomfort?

If you feel discomfort in your breasts, you should see a breast specialist or a gynecologist. The diagnosis should be based on the series of symptoms you experience. In fact, this situation is mostly caused by inflammatory changes in your breasts. Sometimes it is a benign inflammatory change. If this is the case, you don't need to seek excessive treatment. After a period of rest, the inflammation will subside on its own and no serious illness will occur.

1. Inflammatory breast diseases

Common conditions include acute mastitis, breast tuberculosis, and breast fat necrosis. Acute mastitis is often caused by bacterial infection due to damaged epidermis or direct invasion of bacteria into the mammary ducts. Breast tuberculosis is mostly caused by hematogenous dissemination of pulmonary or mesenteric lymph node tuberculosis. Fat necrosis of the breast is often caused by trauma.

2. Benign breast lesions

This type of disease can be caused by infection (such as plasma cell mastitis), ovarian dysfunction (such as cystic breast hyperplasia), environment, radiation, and genetic factors. There are also some diseases whose causes are still unclear.

3. Breast malignancy

The causes of most breast malignancies are unclear and may be related to genetics, hormonal imbalance, and external stimuli.

1. X-ray examination

Commonly used methods are molybdenum target X-ray examination and dry plate photography. For women over 40 years old, photos can be taken once a year; for women under 40 years old, those with high-risk factors and suspicious lesions can choose to take photos.

2. Ultrasound examination

B-ultrasound is a non-invasive examination and can be used repeatedly. It is the first choice for adolescents or dense glands because it is good at distinguishing cystic and solid masses. The use of high-frequency probes and color Doppler ultrasound can further show the blood supply around the mass, which is helpful for differential diagnosis.

3. CT and MRI

CT has a high density resolution, but a relatively lower spatial resolution than X-rays. Its advantage is that it can observe changes in the chest wall and detect lesions in the tail of the breast, and enlarged axillary and internal mammary lymph nodes better than X-rays. Magnetic resonance imaging has high soft tissue resolution and higher sensitivity than mammographic X-ray examinations. It can observe lesions in three dimensions and can not only provide the morphological characteristics of the lesions, but also provide the hemodynamic conditions of the lesions using dynamic enhancement, bringing the diagnosis of breast diseases and lesion detection to a new level.

4. Ductoscopy

Ductoscopy is mainly used to diagnose the cause of nipple discharge. Ductoscopy has the advantages of easy operation, more intuitive examination results, and less trauma, which effectively improves the diagnosis rate of space-occupying lesions in the milk ducts. It can also brush cells for cytological examination, excise diseased tissue for pathological examination, and even directly remove some single benign ductal lesions. At present, breast ductoscopy is widely used by more and more medical institutions due to its unique advantages.