Histologic profiles of breast reduction specimens

Reduction mammaplasty is one of the most common procedures performed by plastic surgeons all around the world. This procedure is performed for aesthetic or reconstructive purposes, but also offers the opportunity to examine all resected breast tissue histopathologically. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the histologic diagnoses of the reduction mammaplasty specimens retrospectively and to determine the incidence of breast lesions in otherwise asymptomatic and healthy women. Therefore, 149 patients who had undergone reduction mammaplasty were reviewed with regard to their histologic diagnoses. We found that 61% of these women have pathologic alterations in at least one of their breasts, so each patient who requests a breast reduction surgery should be evaluated carefully and the specimens should be handled with particular care.