Special Nonmalignant Lesions

Not all tumors that are detected by your self-exam, doctor's exam or your screening mammogram are malignant (or even potentially malignant). Young women (in their 20's) in particular are more likely to have "fibroadenomas" or "mammary hamatomas". These are benign lesions, and if uncomplicated with other proliferative lesions, are not a major risk factor for development of carcinoma later on in life. Other lesions in the spectrum of the "fibrocystic condition" (synonyms: fibrocystic complex, fibrocystic changes) are also entirely benign with no clear predisposition to cancer development. Simple cysts of the breast are an example of this condition. There is also a group of lesions known generically as "proliferative fibrocystic changes". These include "epitheliosis", "papillomatosis", "sclerosing adenosis", "radial scars" and several other lesions. These "proliferative" (but non-cancerous) lesions imply a modestly increased risk of subsequent breast disease. The risk of proliferative fibrocystic change is less than half that of "atypical" hyperplasia" (link to atypical hyperplasia).

Pathologists no longer speak of "fibrocystic disease" because it's difficult to reconcile a disease condition with the fact that most women (~80%) will have some form of fibrocystic change (either clinically or in a benign biopsy) at some point in their lives. On the lower end of the spectrum, fibrocystic change is probably just an exaggerated variant of normal breast tissue. It is only when the condition takes on "proliferative" (or especially "atypical" features) that one should become concerned over increased breast cancer risk.