Evaluation of women with breast masses can be difficult. A wide range of physical characteristics in breast tissue can made even the definition of a mass difficult to the patients or the examining physician. Breast masses in younger women, 30
years
of
age or less, pose a difficult problem. Because of the low probability of malignacy or the fear of poor cosmetic result in younger women, they resist to breast biopsy.
Forty-nine women 30 years of age or less underwent breast biopsy at the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Soon Chun Hyang University between January 1992 and January 1994. This paper reports the results of clinical analysis of these
patients.
1) The age ranged between 16 and 30 with the mean age of 25.9.
2) Forty-four of these yound women had self-detected breast mases. Four women were revealed breast mass by the screening examination Sixteen of the 49 women had at least some associated complaints of intermittent breast tenderness.
3) The mean duration from presentation of symptom to biopsy was 11.7 months (ragne : 1 to 120 months). The duration of symptoms in the majority cases (67.3%) was less than 6 months.
4) The breast masses were located at the right breast in 30 cases (61.2%), at the left breast in 18 cases (36.7%), and bilateral in 1 case. The most frequent site of breast mass was upper outer quadrant (49.0%).
5) The mean size of the breast mass was 1.7 cm 9range 0.5 to 8.0cm). The most common size of breast mass was 1 cm to 3 cm (52.6%).
6) Mammography was performed in 27 patients, ultrasonography in 7 patients and fine needle aspiration cytology in 41 patients. The results of mammography were reported as abnormal in only 01 and the results of ultrasonography as abnormal in all
cases.
7) Pathological diagnoses of 57 breast masses were fibroadenoma in 40 breast masses, fibrocystic disease in 7 breast masses, and infiltrating ductal carcinoma in 2 breast masses.
The incidence of breast cancer in this biopsy series was 4.1%, We suggest that the excisional biopsy is recommended for young women with breast mass.
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