Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Breast lumps are benign 80% of the time
‘Know thyself’ by performing regular self-exams to discern what’s normal and what’s not
Discovering a lump in your breast can raise the frightening specter of cancer, but the fact is that not all lumps are malignant. In fact, most are not. Eighty percent of those biopsied are benign, or noncancerous, according to Cleveland Clinic.
There are many types of benign lumps. As Dr. Britton Lott, a board-certified breast imager at the MANA Breast Center in Fayetteville, explained, “The most common kinds are cysts, fibroadenomas, lymph nodes, lipomas and simply islands of dense glandular tissue.” Simple cysts, as noted on the Cleveland Clinic website, “are benign fluid-filled sacs that usually occur in both breasts. They can be single or multiple and can vary in size.” A woman’s menstrual cycle can affect lump size and tenderness, “and cysts may also be affected by caffeine” found in tea, chocolate, energy drinks and coffee.
Lott said benign lumps generally “are more mobile on self-exam than cancerous lumps,” meaning they move a bit when you push against them, but she emphasized the importance “of getting focused imaging of the area as the first step to knowing what might be the cause.” Causes include “genetic factors, hormonal change, and weight/breast-size fluctuation.”
Lott pointed out that occasionally there’s uncertainty as to the nature of the breast lump. In such cases, “a needle biopsy is required to prove that an area is benign. Biopsy results are very accurate, and the patient receives them in about two days. That said, most of the time we can answer the patient’s question just with imaging.” No further management is needed once investigation shows a lump to be benign. “If a lump is evaluated and found to be normal, patients can often return to screening mammography.”
It’s important for individuals to perform regular self-breast exams, Lott added, “so you know the typical texture of your breast. Even if you have lumpy tissue, knowing what is and isn’t normal for you makes it more likely that you would notice a significant change.” She also recommended that patients “look for changes involving their skin and nipple.”