[Cystic disease of the breast. Ten-year experience]

Cystic breast disease is a relatively widespread pathological condition in the female sex, it has an incidence of around 7% and predominantly affects women aged between 40 and 50 years old. The authors report their experience based on the observation of 1046 cases taken from a series consisting of over 30,000 examinations. Patients were studied following a standardised diagnostic protocol including breast examination, breast scan and, depending on the patient's age or the presence of pathological findings, mammography. The protocol examines the distribution according to age, the number of cysts, their localization and diameter, as well as parameters concerning reproductive or sexual life, age at first pregnancy, the use of oral contraceptives, the number of abortions and menopausal status. Moreover, the efficacy of diagnostic tests, such as ecography, mammography, cytology and the assay of electrolytes using fine needle aspiration, was evaluated. The authors conclude that, when the patient follows a complete and valid diagnostic iter, breast cystic disease is an easily dominable pathology that can be simply controlled periodically without the need for therapeutic surgery.