Breast Lumps in Adolescent and Young Female: Are All Benign? -

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the pattern of presentation and pathology of breast lump in adolescents and young female patients. METHODS: Medical records of female patients below 30 years presenting with palpable breast lump at Liaquat University Hospital during August 2008 to July 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients having acute mastitis, inflammatory carcinoma and recurrent malignant or benign lesions were excluded from study. RESULTS: A total of 214 patients were included in study. Mean age was 22.11 years. Approximately 46% of the patients were at the age 20 or less. Most common mode of presentation was painless lump in 61.22% followed by pain and lump in 20.56%.The histopathology of resected specimen showed that fibroadenoma was the most common lump while benign phylloides was the least common. Carcinoma breast was identified in 25 cases, of which 3 cases were at age 20 or less. The commonest histopathology was infiltrating duct cell carcinoma (60%), followed by lobular carcinoma (16%), scirrhous carcinoma (12%) and medullary carcinoma in 8 %. The Paget’s disease was found in 4%. CONCLUSION: We found an increased frequency of breast cancer in comparatively younger age. These findings suggest that any female patient with palpable breast lump should preferably be managed by surgeon with special interest and training in breast diseases.