Fibrocystic disease of the breast: Analysis of sonographic findings with histopathologic correlation

To evaluate the sonographic findings of fibrocystic disease with histopathologic correlation, we retrospectively analyzed the sonographic findings and pathologic findings of 48 cases with histopathologically proven fibrocystic disease. The sonographic pattern of the lesions were classified into type I (ill define disoechoic lesion), Type IIa (ill defined hypoechoic lesion with heterogeneity), Type IIb (ill defined hypoechoiclesion with nodularities), Type III (mass lesion with thick or thin boundary echoes). The pathologic feature was classified into stromal hyperplasia, mixed, proliferative and fibroadenomatosis patterns. In sonographic type I,stromal hyperplasia and mixed patterns were seen in 77% and 23% , respectively. In sonographic Type IIa, stromal hyperplasia, mixed and proliferative patterns were seen in 57%, 29% and 14%, respectively. In sonographic TypeIIb, stromal hyperplasia and mixed patterns were seen in 17% and 83%, respectively. In sonographic type III, stromal hyperplasia, mixed, proliferative and fire-and-brimstone patterns were seen in 10%, 23%,13% and 54%, respectively.In conclusion, the sonographic findings of fibrocystic disease were variable and were not correlated good with histopathologic patterns. Sonography might to be helpful in the diagnosis of fibrocystic disease in conjunction with other imaging modalities in cases with Type I or Type II sonographic patterns. However, in cases with Type III patterns, biopsy should be performed to differentiate them from other benign or malignant masses