Breast disease

Breast disease
Classification and external resources
ICD-10 N60-N64
ICD-9 610-611
MeSH D001941

Breast diseases can be classified either with disorders of the integuement, or disorders of the reproductive system. A majority of breast diseases are noncancerous.[1]

Breast awareness is a goal of the breast health movement. Rather than promoting the largely ineffective, formally structured breast self-examinations, breast awareness promotes informal familiarity with the normal state of a woman's breasts.

Contents

Neoplasms

A breast neoplasm is an abnormal mass of tissue in the breast as a result of neoplasia. A breast neoplasm may be benign, as in fibroadenoma, or it may be malignant, in which case it is termed breast cancer. Either case commonly presents as a breast lump. Approximately 7% of breast lumps are fibroadenomas and 10% are breast cancer, the rest being other benign conditions or no disease.[2]

Phyllodes tumor is a fibroepithelial tumor which can either benign, broderline or malignant.

Malignant neoplasms (breast cancer)

Among women worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death.[3] Breast self-examination (BSE) is an easy but unreliable method for finding possible breast cancer.[4] Factors that appear to be implicated in decreasing the risk of, early diagnosis of. or reccurence of breast cancer are regular breast examinations by health care professionals, regular mammograms, self examination of breasts, healthy diet, and exercise to decrease excess body fat.[5]

Fibrocystic breast changes

Also called: fibrocystic breast disease, chronic cystic mastitis, diffuse cystic mastopathy, mammary dysplasia

Infections and inflammations

These may be caused among others by trauma, secretory stasis/milk engorgement, hormonal stimulation, infections or autoimmune reactions. Repeated occurrence unrelated to lactation requires endocrinological examination.

Abnormal nipple conditions

Abnormal nipple conditions include:

Other breast conditions

See also

References

  1. ^ "MedlinePlus: Breast Diseases". http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/breastdiseases.html. 
  2. ^ Page 739 in: Mitchell, Richard Sheppard; Kumar, Vinay; Abbas, Abul K.; Fausto, Nelson. Robbins Basic Pathology. Philadelphia: Saunders. ISBN 1-4160-2973-7.  8th edition.
  3. ^ World Health Organization (February 2006). "Fact sheet No. 297: Cancer". http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/index.html. Retrieved 2007-04-26. 
  4. ^ Breast Self Examination at The Breast Site
  5. ^ Seven things you should know about breast cancer risk Harvard College. Last updated June 2008