Fibrous disease of the breast in juvenile diabetes

The association between Type I diabetes mellitus and breast masses whose extreme hardness suggests cancer has only recently been recognized. The present report consists of 11 cases of patients with juvenile diabetes who were identified by a retrospective review of 3,219 patients seen in our breast clinic over an eight-year period. All 11 patients were referred for possible biopsy and this was carried out routinely before the condition was recognized. The patients with diabetes were carefully reviewed in order to identify specific features of the breast lesions and a management plan was devised that should reduce the need for biopsy in these patients in the future.