Fibrocystic breasts

Characterised by 'lumpy' breasts associated with pain and tenderness that fluctuate with the menstrual cycle.

Diagnosis often involves exclusion of other significant breast diseases.

Assessment of risk for the development of breast cancer is important and is useful in patient reassurance or to design risk reduction strategies.

Cyclical mastalgia is treated symptomatically with lifestyle modification, analgesics, and hormonal therapy.

Mastalgia and breast cysts run a chronic relapsing course throughout life with improvement at menopause.

Fibrocystic change of the breast is a non-specific term, commonly understood as a continuum of physiological changes that expand to the pathological spectrum. It is a condition characterised by 'lumpy' breasts, associated with pain and tenderness that fluctuate with the menstrual cycle. These changes do not correlate with an increased risk of breast cancer; fibrocystic changes of the breast reflect a broad spectrum of conditions that carry different risks for future development of breast cancer.[1]Marchant DJ. Benign breast disease. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2002;29:1-20. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11892859?tool=bestpractice.com [2]Santen RJ, Mansel R. Benign breast disorders. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:275-285. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16034013?tool=bestpractice.com