Enlarging and newly appearing fibroadenomas in screening mammography attendees

Presented are 10 fibroadenomas which had enlarged or were newly appearing in screening mammography attendees. The 10 women were aged from 42 years to 55 years, 5 being premenopausal and 5 postmenopausal, and they represented 0.012% of a population attending for second or subsequent screening examinations. On imaging features of the lesions were benign and typical of fibroadenoma. The size increases ranged from 3 mm to 25 mm. While the enlargement or new appearance of a solid mass lesion in women of this age is suspicious of malignancy, the diagnosis of fibroadenoma must also be considered. Recognition of the effect of hormone replacement therapy, and careful, integrated use of imaging, clinical examination, cytology and core biopsy can establish a non-operative diagnosis, and surgical biopsy for benign disease may be avoided.