Chronic Cystic Mastitis and Cancer of the Breast

Abstract

Chronic cystic mastitis forms various lumps in the breast and should not be considered a true neoplasm. It represents an involutional change due to hormone imbalance of estrogen and progesterone. Its highest incidence is in the fourth decade of life and it occurs as a nonproliferative or a proliferative lesion or as both types in the same breast. Chronic cystic mastitis is best treated by surgical excision. Occasionally the proliferative lesion is suggestive of cancer and a radical mastectomy is then indicated.