Breast quadrants

As is known, the human body consists of different parts of the body. Some of them are described in medicine in the form of quadrants. This method of delimiting part of the trunk into four zones is used to refine and specify the pain site or localization of the pathological focus. In a similar way, the quadrants of the breast are also divided - this allows the doctor to accurately indicate in the diagnosis in which part of the breast the pathology is present.

[1], [2], [3]

How to determine the quadrants of the breast?

1. We stand in front of the mirror, hands lower along the trunk - so the breast takes on a natural outline.
2. Mentally we accept an areola (dark area around the nipple) behind the center of intersection of the conventional vertical lines.
3. We draw a horizontal line approximately from the center of the axillary region through the areola to the middle part of the sternum (the sternum is the bone base connecting the ribs of the right and left halves of the thorax from the front).
4. We draw a vertical line starting from the lower edge of the clavicle through the areola to the lower contour of the breast.

Thus, each mammary gland was divided into four parts:

• two upper parts (quadrants);
• on two bottom parts.

Those quadrants that are located closer to the sternum are called internal, and those that are on the side of the armpits are external.

Features of the quadrants of the breast

Breasts in structure can be classified as a category of tubular-alveolar glandular organs. They are localized in the front of the breast within the 3 to 7 rib.

The glands function is provided by hormones estrogen. Anatomy is represented by the secretion department, a large number of alveolar canals, fatty and parenchymal tissues.

The gland is divided into segments (segments), and the segment is divided into separate parts with a multitude of alveoli.

Conditional division into quadrants - upper-outer, upper-inner, lower-external and lower-internal - is very convenient for determining the location of the pathological focus.

Tumor processes, which include breast carcinoma, often begin their development in the upper outer quadrant (in 45% of cases). Relatively rare diseases of the gland are found in the upper inner quadrant (up to 15%), in the lower outer quadrant (up to 10%), and in the lower inner quadrant (up to 5%). On the central site (in okolososovoy zone) accounts for about 25% of cases of diseases.

• Fibroadenomatosis, cystic mastopathy and malignant neoplasms most often affect the upper outer quadrant of the breast. This is because the upper quadrant of the breast has a greater thickness of the glandular layer relative to the other breast zones. In this place there is a large number of lymphatic and blood vessels that feed the inflammatory or tumor process.
• The outer quadrants of the breast are more likely than other sites to be injured, which can provoke damage to the glandular tissue and the development of a precancerous condition.
• The lower outer quadrant of the breast, as well as the upper one, has a well-developed capillary lymphatic network, which is located in the skin and premammary fiber. However, the existing lymphatic plexus in the parotid zone during the development of the pathological process often "takes a blow at yourself." For this reason, the lower quadrant of the mammary gland is less often subjected to diseases, both inflammatory and malignant etiology.

In addition, the division of glands into quadrants is successfully used to assess the prevalence of the pathological process and the size of the focus.

• If the disease affects any one quadrant, then it is appropriate to talk about a limited process.
• If the disease has spread to two or three quadrants of the breast, then talk about the diffuse process.
• If the disease covers all four quadrants, then it is a total lesion of the breast.

The division into quadrants of the breast is often used in the design of the procedure for the operation, in the diagnosis, in the examination and self-examination of the mammary glands. Calling a specific quadrant, the doctor always understands which particular area of the body is involved.

[4], [5]