Relationship of Fibrocystic Disease to Carcinoma of the Breast

Abstract

Of 645 patients with breast lesions operated upon over a 5 1/2-year period, 226 were diagnosed as having malignant lesions. Histologic varients of fibrocystic disease in patients with malignant and non-malignant lesions of the breast were classified in 3 major categories: pro-liferative (papillomatosis and epithelial hyperplasia), non-proliferative (adenoses, cysts and apocrine epithelia) and "minimal" changes (atrophy or proliferative or nonproliferative entities, or both, quantitatively considered slight). The results of this study indicate that there is a relative increase in proliferative changes in breasts with malignant lesions and that these proliferative changes are represented by an appreciable large population of atypical epithelial elements. The significance of atypical hyperplasia as a premalignant lesion and its management in patients with nonmalignant lesions of the breast is discussed.