Adenofibroma of the breast: a benign breast tumor but which can be worrisome

A breast adenoma is a lesion composed of lactation glands that are enclosed in a pocket, which gives it a particular hardness. Breast fibroadenoma is extremely common and uncommon; This can occur during emotional trauma or local trauma or even during hormonal imbalance between progesterone and estrogen secreted by the breast. All the women are still calm. The age of majority for fibroadenoma is between 15 and 35 years.

Fibroadenoma appears as a small swelling that the patient feels when exposed to their breast, quite close to the skin, sometimes deeper.

This finding causes a certain surprise and sometimes concern, but it is a relatively gentle, indolent benign tumor that does not adhere to the surrounding area or distort the surface of the breast. Clinical investigation followed by mammography and ultrasound provides formal evidence, with additional investigation revealing hollow cysts and sometimes obliterating calcified tumors, which may indicate more worrisome histology. In some relatively rare cases, fibroadenomas can become large, sometimes reaching the size of a lemon!

Obviously, this form of fibroadenoma requires surgery to remove. In practice, this is quite easy, because the fibroadenoma is surrounded by a membrane that allows cleavage without causing too much damage to the peripheral tissue.

The best test is a biopsy which removes a small piece of the lesion so that it can be examined histologically. This test thus provides evidence of the benignity of this small tumor, whose volume can reach the size of a cherry – or even an apricot!

In some cases, there may be multiple adenofibromas in the parenchyma of the mammary gland. Not all of them are necessarily palpable and it is ultrasound and radiographic examination that will reveal them.

To give you an idea of ​​how fibroadenomas form, imagine a tree leaf that, instead of growing well in all directions, is wrapped in a plastic wrap, where all the leaves and all the branches are condensed, you In this way we will understand the mechanism of fibroadenoma formation.

Can fibroadenoma disappear without surgery?

The answer is yes ! This happens very often. Fibroadenomas may increase at certain times due to unexpected stress or unexpected hormonal surges. Occasionally, some patients have described the fibroadenoma potentially disappearing to the point of being barely visible on X-ray, which certainly brings great relief to worried patients.

In some cases, I saw patients long after the fibroadenoma had disappeared, and who presented the same symptoms again even after many years.

Other patients have multiple small, dispersed adenofibromas, for which surgical removal is not very convenient. In these cases, they are advised to use hormonal treatment, which has a reasonable chance of success in these special cases of small lesions.

The photographs attached to this file show you the appearance of a fibroadenoma the size of half an apricot in contact with the shell of the silicone gel breast prosthesis. It is likely that this adenofibroma caused the fibrous reaction around the prosthesis.

In these cases, if there is no indication to wait for the disappearance of the fibroadenoma by hormonal treatment, generally or by the application of a locally applied percutaneous hormonal gel, an exploratory intervention proves appropriate. Necessary. The problem then becomes knowing where to place the mark so that it remains as inconspicuous as possible. In some cases we are also obliged to make a scar directly over the palpable fibroadenoma. Once removed, the fibroadenoma must be analyzed to certify its benignity.

The ideal is frequent clinical checks by your gynecologist, self-palpation by the informed patient is also possible, but there is potential for concern as the lesions always develop very slowly according to the patient’s wishes. It happens… X-rays are also sufficient to assess the development of these fibroadenomas, without the need to perform a CT scan or MRI, avoiding too much X-ray radiation.

Is it necessary to operate on benign breast fibroadenoma?

No way ! Just monitor them regularly. Many patients have had adenofibroma since adolescence; Their entire genital life will be marked by the appearance and disappearance of these small breast tumors that are completely benign.

Only when there is significant psychological distress is it reasonable to proceed to surgical exploration in patients who may suffer from fear of transformation into a cancerous tumor because they have breast cancer in their family.

The rule is actually benignness of breast adenoma.

Are there any options other than surgery for the treatment of breast fibroid adenoma?

Some medical teams suggest performing targeted cryotherapy after it has been verified by biopsy that it is indeed a benign fibroadenoma. Cryotherapy involves freezing the lesion with a transcutaneous injection that reduces the temperature to minus 180 degrees, which will cause the lesion to heal with almost no visible scar. But some other teams prefer a smaller operation with smaller scars so that once removed they can analyze the entire lesion.