Breast cancer is a well-known diagnosis. Generally, women apply with the complaint of a mass in the breast and they think that the mass is cancer. For the doctor, the mass should be well evaluated and the patient should be relieved, without giving false hope to the patient with a high probability of malignant tumor.
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST MASS
Differential diagnoses are:
. breast carcinoma
. Fibroadenoma
• Benign cyst
• Fat necrosis
. Cystosarcoma filodes
• Breast abscess
. galactocele
• Ductal ectasia
Duct papilloma
How did the patient first notice the mass?
• Most masses are found incidentally while showering or bathing and may have been noticed long after their formation. Women who regularly examine their breasts have more precise information than doctors in evaluating how long the mass has been present.
• Some women notice an asymmetry in their breasts in front of the mirror; they often notice skin discolorations or collapses, and their presence indicates more likely carcinoma. Fat necrosis in patients with a previous trauma history
the probability increases
• A lateral mass, galactocele or abscess may occur suddenly in nursing mothers.
How did the audience change after the changes were noticed?
•A mass that changes in size during the menstrual cycle is more of a hormone-related benign breast change than carcinoma. • A slowly growing mass may be a solid mass (benign or malignant). But the mass, which doubles in size in a few days, is more suggestive of a cyst.
Symptoms
• Pain Breast abscesses are very painful and tender. Rapidly growing breast cysts can also cause pain. Breast carcinoma is rarely painful (except for inflammatory Ca).
Stream
• Bloody discharge from the nipple may be a sign of malignancy, but it may also be related to benign papillomas of the ducts and trauma during breastfeeding may also cause discharge.
• A greenish or creamy discharge is related to ductal ectasia. . The disappearance of the mass with a milky discharge in a nursing mother is due to galactocele.
Fire
More commonly, fever is due to abscess, but may also occur in patients with inflammatory carcinoma.
