GYNECOMASTIA: A REVIEW AND AN ANALYSIS OF 160 CASES

Abstract

Gynecomastia occurred under age 25 in 73 patients. It appeared to be a result of a physiologic process in 69 of these patients and in 4 cases underlying systemic disease was responsible for the breast enlargement (testicular tumor, paraplegia, chronic nephritis and cryptorchidism with eunuchoidism). Of 87 patients over age 25, 57 had serious underlying disease and 14 may have had serious underlying disease. In addition to the diseases which have been reported in association with gynecomastia, rheumatoid arthritis, collagen disease, generalized exfoliative skin disease, lymphoblastoma and cardiovascular renal disease seemed etiologically related to gynecomastia. The most signigicant feature of the study concerns the clinical implication of gynecomastia. When gynecomastia occurs before age 25 it is usually produced by a physiologic process and when it occurs after age 25, it is usually associated with a serious underlying disease.