There is a hard lump on the chest. There is a hard lump inside the breast when you pinch it.

Many women will find a lump in their breasts. In fact, this lump is quite important for women, and it will feel painful when pinched. However, generally, girls have lumps because the lump will disappear naturally after a woman has breastfed her child. If a woman has breastfed a child and a lump appears, it is likely to be a gynecological disease. So why is there a lump in the breast when you pinch it?

Breast lumps may refer to "breast hyperplasia", which most women have. The symptoms of breast hyperplasia are:

(1) Breast pain: distending pain, stabbing pain or dull pain in one or both breasts. The pain is so severe that the breast cannot be touched or walked. The pain is mainly in the swelling of the breast and can radiate to the armpits, chest, shoulders, back, and upper limbs. Some people also experience nipple pain or itching. The pain fluctuates with mood and menstrual cycle, often aggravated before menstruation or when angry or depressed. The pain is significantly relieved or disappears after menstruation.

(2) Breast lumps: Single or multiple lumps may occur on one or both breasts, and are usually located on the upper outer part of the breast. They may be in the form of flakes, nodules, granules, or cords. Flakes are more common. The boundaries of the lumps are unclear. The lumps are medium or slightly hard. They are movable and have no adhesion to the surrounding tissues. They may be tender to the touch. The lumps may vary in size, ranging from as small as a grain of sand to as large as 3-4 cm. Breast lumps increase in size before menstruation and decrease in size and soften after menstruation.

(3) Associated symptoms: Patients often feel depressed or irritable, and may also experience dysmenorrhea, irregular menstruation, etc. A small number of patients may have brown or light yellow fluid leaking from their nipples.

Diagnostic criteria for breast hyperplasia:

(1) Clinically, there are single or multiple lumps in one or both breasts, most of which are accompanied by periodic breast pain, which is often significantly related to mood and menstrual cycle. Generally, the symptoms worsen about a week before menstruation, and the pain of the lumps is significantly relieved after menstruation, and cannot be relieved on its own for 3 consecutive months.

(2) Eliminate physiological breast pain.

(3) Clinical examination of the breast may reveal single or multiple irregular nodules of varying sizes. These nodules are tough in texture and are mostly located on the upper outer part. The nodules are not adherent to the surrounding tissues and can be pushed. They are often mildly tender. The axillary lymph nodes are not large.

(4) Use auxiliary detection methods such as molybdenum target X-ray, B-ultrasound, and thermal imaging, and perform needle aspiration cytology and local biopsy of the tumor when necessary to rule out other benign and malignant diseases such as breast cancer and breast fibroids.

Breast hyperplasia occurs because breast tissue is the target organ of sex hormones. Therefore, in women with ovarian function, the breasts undergo periodic proliferation and recovery changes under the influence of endocrine hormones. During the proliferative period, some people may feel breast pain or feel some thickening of the breast, especially before menstruation. After the menstruation, the above symptoms will disappear on their own. These are physiological changes, not a disease, and do not require treatment.

Most physiological breast hyperplasia can heal itself. Some symptoms will completely disappear during pregnancy and breastfeeding, while others will heal themselves 1-2 years after menopause. If a lump appears in the breast every time you have menstruation and there is pain that lasts for varying lengths of time, sometimes for several months or even for several years. Its histological changes include proliferation of fibrous tissue around the alveoli, ducts or lobules. Such "breast hyperplasia" is often called "lobular hyperplasia".

Pathological breast hyperplasia is also called cystic breast hyperplasia. Histologically, small milk ducts are highly dilated to form cysts, and the milk duct epithelial cells proliferate. Papillomas may develop in most medium and small milk ducts. Since this disease not only causes epithelial hyperplasia but also cyst formation, it is called "cystic breast hyperplasia". It is a precancerous lesion and can lead to cancer. It must be taken seriously. Therefore, "breast hyperplasia" must be treated differently and cannot be treated in a general way.