Mammography

Adult women are very susceptible to breast diseases. The first symptom of breast disease is breast swelling and pain. Of course, for breast hyperplasia, if the symptoms are mild, no treatment is needed, but for diseases such as mastitis, timely treatment can prevent the occurrence of breast cancer. But before treatment, the doctor needs to know the specific disease, so a mammogram is needed.

The mammary gland is an accessory gland of the skin and is a compound tubuloalveolar gland. The male mammary gland gradually degenerates at around one and a half years old. The gland has ducts but no alveoli and is not lobed. Female breasts proliferate during puberty, and after menstruation begins, the breasts are almost mature.

The mammary gland is affected by nerves and hormones and undergoes obvious age and functional changes. The mammary glands have developed to their highest degree around the age of 20, begin to atrophy around the age of 40, and atrophy significantly after menopause. During the menstrual cycle, the size of the breasts changes slightly. During pregnancy and lactation. There are significant changes in the structure and function of the mammary gland. When adults are not pregnant, the mammary glands have no secretory activity, which is called quiescent mammary glands. Breast hyperplasia during pregnancy and vigorous secretion during the lactation period are called active breasts.

1. Quiescent breast:

The mammary gland has 15 to 25 lobes, each lobe is an independent gland, with the lactiferous duct opening at the top of the nipple. The lactiferous duct expands into sinuses under the areola, which are called lactiferous sinuses. The large ducts below the lactiferous sinus branch into small ducts, the ends of which are connected to the alveoli. The lobes of the mammary gland are separated by dense connective tissue and surrounded by adipose tissue. Connective tissue extends into the leaves and divides them into many leaflets. The glandular tissue of the quiescent breast is sparse, the lobes and lobules are not clearly distinguished, and groups of tubules can be seen scattered in a large amount of dense connective tissue. Abundant fat cells. The lobules have very few alveoli and narrow alveolar cavities.

(ii) Active breast:

During pregnancy, under the action of estrogen and progesterone, the small ducts and alveoli of the mammary gland proliferate rapidly, the alveoli become larger, the epithelium becomes a single layer of columnar or cuboidal cells, and the connective tissue and adipose tissue decrease accordingly. In the late stages of pregnancy, under the influence of prolactin secreted by the pituitary gland, the alveoli begin to secrete. The mammary gland is an apocrine gland, and its secretion contains lipid droplets, milk proteins, milk antibodies, etc., which is called colostrum. There are also macrophages in colostrum that eat fat, called colostrum bodies.