ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: A fibroadenoma is a very common benign breast tumor, which has been reported to be present in 7 to 13% of patients examined in breast clinics. This study was carried out, at a university hospital in Daegu, Korea, to find the clinical manifestations and characteristics of fibroadenomas in Korean women. METHODS: Four hundred and sixty-four patients, with pathological diagnosis of fibroadenomas, who underwent excisional biopsies, between January 1996 and December 2001, were included in this study. Clinical manifestations, diagnoses, including the sonographic findings, and the clinical characteristics, including the mean age of the patients at the time of diagnosis, tumor siz and location, and the solitary or multiple nature of the tumor, were analysed. RESULTS: The most common symptom was a palpable mass in the breast. In the majority of patients (81.5%), a mass was the only symptom, but the breast mass was associated with breast pain in only 8.8% of patients. Diagnosis was usually made from the characteristic clinical and sonographic findings. Frozen section examinations were rarely necessary for the differentiation from a carcinoma. The mean age of the patients was 34 years, but 34% of the women were aged 40 or older. Left sided fibroadenomas were slightly more common than those of the right. Bilateral tumors were found in 9.3% of patients. The most common locations of the breast tumors were the upper outer quadrant, followed by the center and upper inner quadrant. The mean size of the tumor was 2.35 cm. CONCLUSION: The clinical manifestations in Korean women were similar to those in Western reports, but the age at diagnosis was older in this study.