[Cancer of the so-called "empty breast" and its relation to Wolfe's classification of parenchymal patterns]

Carcinoma in the 'empty breast' in our experience is so common that we doubt Wolfe's conclusions in his classification of parenchymal patterns. Amongst patients over 60 years, almost 70% of carcinomas were situated in an 'empty' parenchyma and they did not develop in a parenchymal group above P1. Mammographically, the 'empty breast' is the structureless fatty breast of older women after the menopause. Some authors believe that there is a lower incidence of carcinomas in this type of breast than in other types of parenchyma, such as those showing mastopathies. Our experience concerning carcinomas in involuted breasts is described.