Breast lesions in young females--a 20-year study for significance of early recognition.

The aim of this case series is to evaluate the pattern of breast lumps in males and females with special reference to spectrum of lesions in females below 40 years of age. A 20 years retrospective study was undertaken from the records of the department of Pathology, Bhopal. The lesions were classified into benign and malignant. In young females histological pattern was analyzed in various age groups. A total of 1824 cases were studied. 1724 (94.5%) cases were seen in females and 100 (5.5%) in males. There were 1276 (74%) females below 40 years of age and 448 (26%) were above 40 years of age. In young females 1136 (89%) lesions were benign and 140 (11%) were malignant lumps. Fibrocystic disease in 60 (49%) cases constituted the largest group of benign lumps followed by 30 (24.5%) cases of inflammatory lesion in older females. The mean age of malignant tumors was 34.1 in young females and 51.4 in females above 40. Infiltrating duct carcinoma constituted 83.5% of malignant tumors in young females and 86.1% in older females.