RESUMO
As noted by Wang and Fentiman "Translocation of an individual from a normal group to the benign breast disease group depends to a large extent on the complaint threshold of the patient and the safety threshold of the surgeon. It is regrettable that many physicians casually make the diagnosis of "fibrocystic disease" simply on the basis of an physical examination and the finding of a nodular breast , often in a patient without any complain. Unfortunately, many of these patients are told that they are at a higher risk for breast cancer on the basis of this examination. Most patients do not have fibrocystic "disease" or fibrocystic changes-they have uncomfortable and lumpy breasts. For specific complaints such as mastodynia, nipple discharge, a dominant mass and mastitis, appropriate disgnostic studies and therapeutic regimens are available. As noted by Dent, "Normality is a more accurate and kinder diagnosis than telling patients that they have a disease which in turn they might learn from the lay and professional press could be malignant".