What are the types of solid breast masses?

The breasts of normal women are soft and feel free of lumps, but some people develop real lumps in their breasts due to disease, which is obviously not good. In fact, there are several types of solid breast masses, and different types have different treatment methods. Next, let us follow the experts in breast diseases to learn about several types of solid breast masses! I hope that through the detailed content below, everyone can understand this issue.

Experts say that in general, normal breast tissue is soft, uniform and elastic. If it becomes thicker, thickened, nodular, or has lumps of varying sizes, these are all abnormal changes in the breast. Many benign and malignant breast diseases usually present lumps as the first symptom, so we need to be alert when we find lumps. The following four are the most common ones:

1. Breast hyperplasia: Lumps of varying sizes often appear in the breasts on both sides, with unclear boundaries from the surrounding tissues. Patients often feel breast swelling, pain, and heaviness, especially during menstruation.

2. Breast fibroids: The most common benign tumor in the breast, which can occur in both breasts. The lumps are mostly oval, smooth, and of medium hardness, with clear boundaries from the surrounding tissues and no adhesion to the skin.

3. Breast cancer: the most common malignant tumor occurring in the breast. In the early stage, it is a small painless lump with a hard texture and a rough surface, and the boundary with the surrounding tissue is unclear. As breast cancer grows, it adheres to the skin, causing depressions in the skin or swollen superficial veins.

4. Breast tuberculosis: The disease has a slow course. In the early stage, it appears as one or several small lumps, which gradually spread outward and grow larger. It often adheres to the skin, and the mass softens after a few months, forming a cold abscess without fever. After the abscess ruptures, an ulcer forms, and thin yellow-white pus flows out, which does not heal for a long time. The lymph nodes under the armpit on the same side are swollen, and there is often soreness in the armpit and shoulder.

Therefore, if you find a lump, don’t worry too much. In addition to self-examination, you should go to the hospital in time for further diagnosis. So what are the methods used by hospitals to examine masses?

1. Doctor's palpation: Professional doctors can make a preliminary understanding of the texture, range, mobility and location of breast masses through breast palpation.

2. Puncture biopsy: Use a puncture needle to pierce through the skin to reach the mass and obtain a small amount of mass tissue for pathological examination.

3. Breast mammography: Breast mammography is an important examination method for diagnosing breast masses. Breast mammography X-rays can accurately record the X-ray images left by different soft tissues, especially capturing tiny calcification foci that are of diagnostic significance for breast cancer. Clinical applications have confirmed that it can detect tumors smaller than 5mm and can detect breast cancer 2 years earlier than clinical manual examination.

4. Color B-ultrasound examination: painless, non-destructive, not affected by dense glands, and able to accurately differentiate between cystic and solid lesions. The biggest advantage of breast B-ultrasound examination is that it can observe dynamic breast images. However, B-ultrasound is less capable of detecting masses smaller than 5 mm.

What types of solid breast lumps are there? I believe that everyone has some understanding of them after reading the above article. I hope that such a detailed explanation can help those who have breast lumps to find their own type, and then receive targeted treatment. As long as everyone uses the correct treatment method, the lump will disappear quickly.