FIBROCYSTIC DISEASE

either of two unrelated diseases, one affecting the breast and the other affecting the pancreas. For a discussion of the disease of the pancreas, see cystic fibrosis. Fibrocystic disease of the breast, also called chronic cystic mastitis, or cystic disease of the breast, most often occurs in women between the ages of 30 and 50. It is characterized by benign, noncancerous cysts (harmless swellings caused by fluid trapped in breast tissues) that often increase in size and become tender during the premenstrual phase. Aside from discomfort, the chief problem posed by the disease is that it makes the detection of other abnormalities more difficult. Nevertheless, women with the disease are three times more likely to develop breast cancer as they age than are women without the disease. Fibrocystic disease may be monitored by routine breast self-examinations and through regular check-ups by a physician. Diagnosis of the disease requires accurate differentiation between the several types of fibrocystic disease and carcinoma; some physicians hold that the term fibrocystic disease has little clinical use and that more meaningful distinctions ought to be made.