management
Last reviewed 01/2018
Less than 5% of fibroadenomas increase in size and about 25% either get smaller or completely disappear.
The difficulty in management however is to ensure that breast cancer is not missed, and some would advocate that all such lumps should be excised, thus providing both diagnosis and treatment.
Others however would argue that for women under 40 years old, with a fibroadenoma diagnosed clinically, with ultrasound and with fine needle aspiration cytology, excision is not required unless the lump is over 4 cms in diameter. For women over 40 years old, all lumps should be excised.