Since the publication of lectures by Sir Astley Cooper,9 Brodie,4 and the classic observations made by Reclus,25 numerous reports have appeared in the literature on the relationship of fibrocystic disease to carcinoma of the breast. The condition is referred to by various names鈥攃hronic cystic mastitis,20 Schimmelbusch's disease,28 adenocystic disease,1 lobular hyperplasia,29 simple cystic disease of the breast, and other designations.3,15,23,31 Convincing proof that this disease is pathologically related to carcinoma has not been established. The uncertainty and varied ambiguous premises advanced relative to the malignant transformation of fibrocystic lesions of the breast have served as a stimulus for this report.
Fibrocystic disease of the mammary glands is the commonest of all breast lesions and primarily affects females but may occur in males.18,30 It is characterized clinically by pain or a lump in the breast and pathologically as a fibroglandular hyperplasia, localized