A complex fibroadenoma, even if it does not become cancerous, can correlate with a family history of breast cancer and an increased risk for cancer. Seeking more information from your doctors about how to proceed can offer peace of mind.
PUBLISHED March 06, 2018
Felicia Mitchell is a poet and writer who makes her home in southwestern Virginia, where she teaches at Emory & Henry College. She was diagnosed with Stage 2b HER2-positive breast cancer in 2010. Website: www.feliciamitchell.net
A lump in the breast! It can be daunting, even if it turns out to be benign. A fibroadenoma, for example, is a lump of glandular and connective tissue with little or no risk of becoming cancerous. I was first diagnosed with a fibroadenoma after a manual exam of a lump that grew larger through my 20s. When I was young, I did not worry about it, even with a family history of breast cancer.
Because my tumor seemed to pinch a nerve, it was always on my mind, but I learned to coexist with it until my 30s. Then, as my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I sought an ultrasound for a more definitive diagnosis of the tumor. Following that, there was a simple fine-needle aspiration biopsy, which revealed no cancer cells.
In my 40s, I began to read more about fibroademas. I started to worry. Although I could acknowledge that my complex fibroadenoma was not breast cancer, and would never be, I could also see that there were mixed messages in the literature. Sometimes the aberrations of a complex fibroadenoma, its epithelial components, are worrisome. My fibroadenoma was "complex." I was confused.
Because my tumor seemed to pinch a nerve, it was always on my mind, but I learned to coexist with it until my 30s. Then, as my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I sought an ultrasound for a more definitive diagnosis of the tumor. Following that, there was a simple fine-needle aspiration biopsy, which revealed no cancer cells.
In my 40s, I began to read more about fibroademas. I started to worry. Although I could acknowledge that my complex fibroadenoma was not breast cancer, and would never be, I could also see that there were mixed messages in the literature. Sometimes the aberrations of a complex fibroadenoma, its epithelial components, are worrisome. My fibroadenoma was "complex." I was confused.
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