A benign proliferative condition of the terminal duct lobular units known as sclerosing adenosis (SA) is characterized by an increased number of acini and associated glands. Multiple tiny, firm, sensitive nodules, fibrous tissue, and different-sized microcysts are some of its breast manifestations. It is occasionally classified as a type of borderline breast illness.
Therapeutic presentation
The menstrual cycle frequently plays a role in the recurrent discomfort that many women with sclerosing adenosis suffer.
Sclerosing adenosis is typically found during routine mammography or after breast surgery. Because it could be challenging to distinguish the illness from breast cancer by imaging, a biopsy is needed to confirm the diagnosis.
A focal or widespread lesion may manifest as sclerosing adenosis. In 80% of cases, it is not physically palpable, though it occasionally may induce skin retraction.
Pathology
Sclerosing adenosis is a form of adenosis in which stromal fibrosis that surrounds larger acini causes minor distortion (“sclerosis”). The breast’s typical lobular architecture is preserved but enlarged and deformed.
Associations
Sclerosing adenosis may be seen in different proliferative lesions, including:
Breast cancer, both invasive and in situ, with intraductal and/or sclerosing papilloma complicated sclerosing lesion fibroadenoma.
radiographic characteristics
Sclerosing adenosis can appear in a broad variety of ways on mammography, making it challenging to tell it apart from an infiltrating carcinoma:
Bulk with erratic to distinct shapes
Distortion in the architecture
40–55% of cases have microcalcifications.
Diagnosis, and Prognosis
Sclerosing adenosis is regarded as a standalone risk factor for the development of later breast cancer, although not being a pre-malignant lesion 3,5. According to studies, women who have sclerosing adenosis may be 1.5–2 times more likely to get breast cancer.
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