Education in the mammary gland

There is a clinical classification, according to which benign formation in the mammary gland can be nodal, diffuse or lobular. There is also a histological classification of breast tumors, which is developed by WHO and includes all the formations in the mammary gland. This international classification differentiates the formulations into epithelial ones (they include more than two dozen breast cancers, as well as non-cancerous formations - adenomas), myoepithelial, mesenchymal, fibroepithelial, etc.

Nodal, diffuse and lobular formations

Nodal formations in the mammary gland or, as they are still determined, focal lesions in the mammary gland are a single, elastic to the touch or dense formation in the mammary gland, which looks like a node with clear boundaries and localization, that is, it does not spread throughout the gland. Nodal formations can arise from glandular and fibrous tissue, can be mobile or else welded to surrounding tissues. In the form of rounded formation in the mammary gland very often can not show itself and cause no discomfort, and can be painful when probed. Such nodes in most cases are formed in one breast gland.

To this kind of specialists include  fibroadenoma  (focal fibrosis, nodular or localized fibroadenomatosis), phylloid (or leaf-shaped) fibroadenoma, cysts and lipoma.

Diffuse formations in the mammary gland follow. Among them, fibrotic formation in the mammary gland is distinguished, which is manifested by a number of seals throughout the breast that are formed due to proliferation of fibrous tissue cells, as well as adenosis of glandular lobules. Diffuse fibroadenoma is diagnosed when the mammary gland consists of fibrous and glandular tissue. In this case, formation in the right mammary gland, or formation in the left mammary gland, can be detected, or both breasts can be affected simultaneously.

For lobular lesions, the lesion of fibrous tissue in the lobules of the gland is characteristic. And with such a variety of formations mammologists diagnose perikanalikulyarnaya or intrakanalikulyarnaya fibroadenoma, sclerosing adenosis of the milk ducts of the breast or sclerosing lymphocytic lobular mastitis. Sclerosing pathologies are the lot of many older women, this is a benign formation in the mammary gland, but with this disease, calcification in the mammary gland is observed.

It should also be noted that the most voluminous formation in the mammary gland, which can occupy most of the gland, occurs with leaf-shaped fibroadenoma and lipoma.

Glandular, fibrous, cystic, fatty formations

In many cases, there may appear a single  glandular formation in the mammary gland (adenoma), which consists, respectively, of the glandular tissue - the parenchyma. All adenomas, as well as intraprostatic papilloma, are epithelial hyperplasias.

Fibrous formation in the mammary gland is a proliferation of fibrous connective (fibrous) tissue. Fibrosis, that is, the reorganization of the cytoskeleton of epithelial tissues and their transformation into fibrous tissue (which can be observed in any organ) usually occurs where it is necessary to isolate from any surrounding structures any inflammatory focus. And this process is regulated not by sex hormones, but by anti-inflammatory hormone-like proteins cytokines (which are produced by macrophages, granulocytes, reticular fibroblasts) and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system of the body that synthesizes biologically active substances. But to date in mammology the mechanism of fibrogenesis in the etiology of fibrous formations in the mammary gland is not taken into account.

Fibrous formation in the mammary gland is diagnosed as fibroadenoma, adenofibroma, fibrocystic disease, etc. And this corresponds to reality, since with rare exceptions the composition of such tissue conglomerates is mixed. A classic example of mixed fibrotic epithelial hyperplasias is a nodal non-uniform formation in the mammary gland in the form of a fibroadenoma, which is characterized by the presence of abnormally expanded cells of both fibrous tissue and epithelium of the parenchyma, as well as fibrocystic disease or mammary dysplasia.

Cystic education in the mammary gland, based on the pathogenesis of cysts, most likely does not enter into the category of hormone-dependent proliferative pathologies, since it is a cystic cavity, and often it is fluid formations in the mammary gland.

If the encapsulated cavity appeared on the last days of pregnancy or during lactation due to the overlapping of the milk duct and the delay of the colostrum or breast milk, it is a retention cyst. Such a cystic formation in the mammary gland is called lactocele (or galactocele). The cyst is a benign, but painful, formation in the mammary gland, which is caused by the injury of soft tissues, for example, after a chest injury. Cyst - immovable dense formation in the mammary gland - has a rounded shape, the sizes are different, it can be plural, it can provoke formation of calcinates in the mammary gland.

Mesenchal formations are tumors of various tissues, as well as vessels and membranes (serous and synovial). In the everyday diagnostic terminology of domestic mammalogists, this definition often does not figure, although this type refers to a similar chondroma fibroadenoma - a benign formation in the mammary gland that grows from cartilage or bone to the soft tissue of the breast. Chondroma can also cause calcification in the mammary gland.

The main thing in the clinical picture of congenital vascular formations - hemangiomas - is a red or bluish purple soft tumor in the superficial layer of the skin of the breast. This education has clear boundaries and can slightly rise on the skin.

Fat formation in the mammary gland is represented by atheroma and lipoma. Because of the violation of the patency of the duct of the sebaceous gland in the thickness of the skin, cystic formation in the mammary gland, atheroma, can develop. These capsules and viscous contents of the sebaceous gland cyst are a dermatological problem, despite the fact that atheroma of the breast can reach impressive sizes. The onset of athere is associated with increased secretion of male sex hormones and a deficiency of thyroid hormones. These formations have a tendency to inflammation (with infection) and the formation of abscesses.

But such a fat benign formation in the mammary gland, like a lipoma, is related to the nodal mesenchal formations, its increased growth leads to an increase in the affected breast and deformation of its shape. In addition, when squeezing the nerve endings, the lipoma can be very painful.