Clinicopathologic profile of benign breast conditions in Indian women: prospective study based on aberrations of...

Benign conditions of the breast are common, but a great deal of confusion exists in their nomenclature, classification, and, treatment protocols. The Aberration of Normal Development and Involution (ANDI) classification provides a comprehensive framework within which to correlate clinical presentation with pathogenesis. Most clinical studies have not used this classification system. We studied the spectrum of benign breast conditions in Indian patients with reference to the ANDI system and performed a clinicopathologic correlation.

This prospective study was carried out on 262 consecutive patients attending the surgery department on an outpatient basis for benign breast conditions.

A total of 199 (76 %) patients had a diagnosis of benign breast disorder, and 44 (17 %) had benign breast disease. There were 19 (7 %) women with non-ANDI and other conditions. The spectrum of benign breast disorders included fibroadenoma 77, mastalgia with nodularity 98, galactocele 7, cysts 4, and nipple discharge (ND) 13. Benign breast diseases included giant/multiple fibroadenomas 18, incapacitating mastalgia and nodularity 13, subareolar abscess with mammary fistula 7, periductal mastitis with suppuration 4, and ND 2. Cytopathologic correlation performed in 115 patients showed nonproliferative disease in 82, proliferative disease without atypia in 19, proliferative disease with atypia in 3, and miscellaneous 11.

The ANDI classification is a comprehensive system that delineates the borderline between normal and abnormal, achieves correlation of clinical signs and symptoms with histologic changes, and provides risk stratification and pragmatic definition of management protocols.