Pathological Studies

In the autopsy study, fibrocystic changes were found in 58% of the mammary glands that are not affected by breast cancer (BC), and only in 26% with breast cancer (BC). In addition, epithelial hyperplasia, often considered a precursor of cancer, was at least as widespread in glands that were not affected by a tumor as it was in affected ones (32 and 23%, respectively). Davis et al. concluded that the identification of associated cystic changes does not provide adequate evidence of an increased risk of breast cancer (BC).

Two other types of epidemiological studies were also used to assess the relationship between fibrocystic mastopathy and cancer: a retrospective analysis of biopsy specimens in those women who later developed breast cancer (breast cancer) (case-control study), and a retrospective cohort study in patients , in which a benign disease was detected in biopsy specimens, and later cancer developed. In a retrospective case-control study, the proportion of previous biopsies in patients with cancer was low (about 8%) compared with the proportion of previous biopsies taken from patients with benign disease (about 14%).

DeVitt and Chetty showed that if a woman is given a biopsy for a benign disease, a second biopsy is more likely to occur, possibly due to heightened alertness or even due to anatomical disturbances caused by a previous intervention. Evaluation of retrospective cohort studies in which a repeated biopsy was performed in order to determine the incidence of breast cancer (BC) in women, in whom biopsy showed benign changes in the past, is even more difficult. These include the difficulties of statistical data processing, including the uncertain distribution of patients by age and duration of observation. In addition, only some researchers studied the original histological preparations to double-check the diagnosis; others relied only on the conclusion of the pathologist as reliable evidence of fibrocystic mastopathy. Finally, there were different control groups in the studies to determine the expected risk of breast cancer (BC).

Although the epidemiological risk of breast cancer (Breast Cancer) after obtaining a result of a biopsy was somewhat diminished, it was possible to clarify its morphological background. Several studies have shown that the most important morphological risk factor for breast cancer (BC) is the degree and nature (typical or atypical) of epithelial proliferation. The relative risk varied from study to study and was largely dependent on the classification of various benign lesions.