Patient Complaints in Benign vs. Malignant Breast Disease

Breast clinic enhances the experience and expertise of the surgeons while gathering large amount of data which provides opportunity for further study and research. The aim of this study was to find the distribution of presenting complaints among patients coming to a referral hospital breast clinic and their relation to presence of benign vs. malignant disease. Female patients presenting to a teaching hospital breast clinic with mastalgia, painful mass, painless mass, nipple discharge, nipple areola complex (NAC) deformity, mammographic (MMG) finding, and ultrasonographic (U/S) finding were studied. One thousand two hundred thirty patients were included. Mastalgia was the most common presenting chief complaint in the entire study group and in patients with benign breast disease. In patients with malignant breast disease, the most common clinical chief complaint was painless mass. The highest numbers of patients with benign and malignant disease both were between 30 and 50 years. The specificity of mastalgia for benign breast disease is 100%. The specificity of painless mass for malignancy is 93.6%. Mastalgia is equal to benign disease, but it is a major cause of malaise and concern in women. Painless mass is highly suggestive of malignancy but not the sine qua non for it.