Breast Pathology Flashcards
What is function of the breast?
The production and expression of milk
What are the two main structures of the breast?
- lobules
- ducts
What collagenous structure is visible between breast structures?
Collagenous stroma
When is the preferred time to examine breasts?
In the pre-menopausal first half of the cycle
Are mammograms more beneficial to younger or older females?
Older as the density of the breast is less fibrous and there is more adipose tissue. The lobules decrease in size leading to more radiolucent tissue.
How small must a mass be to make it palpable?
> 2cm in size
What type of physical structures are visible on a mammogram?
- densities
- calcification
What type of mass is visible from ultrasonography?
A solid cystic lesion
What type of techniques are used to harvest a biopsy from a question malignancy?
FNAB
Core Biopsy
Developmental abnormalities can be at play resulting in which types of problems?
- development failure
- juvenile hypertrophy
- milk line remnants
- nipple inversion
If a milk line remains what is it subject to?
- hormonal response
Ex: supernumerary nipples
What are the three main types of inflammation seen with the breast?
- infection
- mammary duct ectasia
- fat necrosis
What is mastitis?
Inflammation of the breast
What is SMoLD?
Both women and men affected
Smokers (90%)
keratin plugs, block ducts leading to dilation and rupture.
Drainage, re-occurrence, surgical duct removal.
In what population is duct ectasia seen the most?
- post-menopausal, parous women. Periareolar palpable mass.
What are some symptoms of duct ectasia?
- duct dilation
- rupture
- thick nipple discharge
- fibrosis leads to nipple retraction
Fat necrosis is an inflammatory condition which occurs in the breast as a result of ?
Damaged adipose tissue
What are the three types of benign epithelial lesions of the breast?
- non-proliferating breast changes
- proliferative breast disease without atypia
- proliferative breast disease with atypia
What is another way of saying non-proliferating breast changes?
Fibrocystic changes
What are the 3 types of changes seen with fibrocystic changes?
- cystic changes
- fibrosis
- adenosis
What is adenosis?
The increase in number of acini per lobule (normal in preg)
What type of cells line acini?
Columnar cells
How do cysts change?
They form by dilation and unfolding of lobules.
What is atypia?
The departure from typical normal appearance to usually histological, either reactive or sometimes denoting pre-neoplastic changes such as dysplasia.
What type of abnormalities are seen in proliferative breast disease without atypia?
- epithelial hyperplasia
- sclerosing adenosis
- complex sclerosing lesion
- papilloma
What is seen structurally with epithelial hyperplasia?
Lumen filled with a mix of luminal and myoepithelial cells. No atypia.