Breast masses in adolescent females

Abstract

Conservative management of breast masses in adolescents is generally advocated in consideration of the low incidence of breast cancer. A retrospective chart review of 130 female patients seen in a general adolescent clinic over a two-year period was performed. The mean age was 17.5 years (range 12-21). One hundred and seven (88% of available data) had self-discovered lesions. Fibrocystic disease was clinically diagnosed in 66 (51%) patients, while 19 (15%) had fibroadenomas and 17 (13%) had a normal breast examination. Of the remaining patients, six (5%) had mastalgia, five (4%) had mastitis/abscess, three (2%) has asymmetry, three (2%) had hypertrophy, two (1%) had breast changes of early pregnancy, two (1%) had hematoma, one (1%) had axillary lymphadenopathy, and six (5%) had unknown. Excisional biopsy was performed on eleven patients; it revealed fibroadenoma in eight, and one each had a hematoma, granular cell myoblastoma, and breast abscess. Improvement or complete resolution of breast masses was documented in 31 (47%) of the patients with fibrocystic disease.