RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CYSTIC DISEASE OF THE BREAST AND CARCINOMA

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Fifty years have passed since Reclus published his classic description of cystic disease of the breast. Since that time much investigative work has been done, and a voluminous literature has developed. However, the practical and important relationship between this disease and carcinoma has never been so decisively established that any one view has been generally accepted. As a result, a wide range of opinion still prevails as to what constitutes its proper treatment. Thus the selection of the surgeon, rather than the nature of the lesion, often determines whether a breast is removed or preserved. I believe that sufficient evidence is available to justify a more uniform view of this relationship and to evolve a more standardized and conservative policy in the treatment of the disease. It is proposed to review the literature, to evaluate the information contained in it, to add, together with follow-up information, a series of