Mammary duct proliferation in the elderly.A histopathologic study

Abstract

Both breasts of women over 70 years of age dying from causes other than mammary cancer were studied microscopically at autopsy by multiple step sections. Intense focal intraductal proliferative activity was characteristic of almost half of the breasts of women in this age group. Proliferative intraductal changes tended to be bilateral and were frequently associated with adenosis and intraductal papillomas. Four cases (5.7%) showed intraductal carcinoma, and, in one of these (1.4%), there was a focus of microinvasion. All four cases showed both benign and atypical hyperplastic lesions in other areas of the breast. It is concluded that occult infiltrating breast carcinoma, unlike occult prostatic carcinoma, is an infrequent lesion in the elderly. Intraductal carcinoma, while somewhat more common, is unlikely to eventuate in clinical malignancy within the life span of these patients. Intraductal hyperplasia appears to be a common finding in the elderly and need not be viewed with alarm.