Does fibroadenoma cause pain?

At birth the breasts consist of small buds comprising primitive ducts, milk glands and fibrous tissue. At puberty under the influence of the hormones produced by the ovaries the breast buds enlarge and flower like the branches of a tree. It is thought that fibroadenoma symptoms including breast buds that never fully develop during puberty and remain stuck down, forming a hard lump (1, 2, 3). Definition of Fibroadenoma The name fibro-adenoma comes from "fibro" - fibrous tissue and "adenoma" - glandular tissue. Because fibroadenoma do contain breast tissue elements they can get very slowly bigger with time. Rapid growth such as doubling in size in a few months is not a feature of fibroadenoma. Pregnancy and breast Feeding During pregnancy and breast feeding fibroadenoma respond to the hormones of pregnancy and breastfeeding. They are fooled into thinking they too can produce milk! Once breast feeding is complete the fibroadenoma returns to its former size. Fibroadenoma are also under the influence of the menstrual cycle and just as you can experience premenstrual tenderness and swelling, fibroadenoma may also appear more prominent and tender prior to a period. fibroadenoma Symptoms Round with distinct, smooth borders Easily moved Firm or rubbery Painless It is possible to have more than one fibroadenoma in the same breast and also to find them in the other breast. They may not always be apparent at the same time because of their size and location in the breast. Breast ultrasound may not be able to detect all fibroadenoma due to density factors. Fibroadenoma may look very similar to the fatty-fibrous tissue on ultrasound and may not show up until they get to be a little bigger and denser and may also not show up on mammograms due to the density of the surrounding tissue. Fibroadenoma have classical features of being firm, smooth, oval or round, mobile solid lumps. They have also been called "breast mouses" because small, mobile fibroadenoma may dart around and be very difficult to find at times ! They are commonly found in women between the age of 18 and 35 years and would account for practically all solid lumps in women under the age of 25 years. Fine needle aspirate (a procedure where cells are suctioned from the lump) of fibroadenoma can be extremely helpful in diagnosis. classifications of fibroadenoma Fibroadenoma by themselves are not precancerous. Pathologists have further classified fibroadenoma into complex fibroadenoma and non-complex fibroadenoma. Complex fibroadenoma have some benign differences internally when compared under the microscope with non-complex fibroadenoma. These differences may include calcifications and breast cysts changes. The Pathologist also independently looks at the tissue the fibroadenoma sits in. The Pathologist may comment that the tissue surrounding the fibroadenoma is fibrocystic tissue and go into further detail regarding the activity of this tissue. To understand these comments please refer to the information sheet on this.