Breast fibroadenomas are less frequent in women with uterine fibroids

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The etiology and incidence of Fibroadenoma (FA) as the most frequent benign breast mass and uterine fibroma (UF) as the most benign gynecological disorders are unknown. OBJECTIVE: Considering the dependency of FA and UF to sex hormones, our objective was to investigate the association of these two neoplasms. METHODS: Among women attending the hospital Gynecology Clinic, those with typical uterine fibroids in their pelvic ultrasound constituted cases and those with no pathology the controls. All participants underwent breast ultrasound for FA. Criteria for diagnosis of FA were a typical image for lumps <2 cm in women aged <40 and <1 cm in ages ≥ 40, and a histologic diagnosis for all other participants or larger lumps. RESULTS: The mean age of cases and controls was 42.4 and 41.7 years, respectively. FA were detected in 140 (23%) of all participants; 19.7% of the cases, and 26.2% of the controls (p = 0.07). FA and UF had a borderline reverse association (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.46–1.02, p = 0.07). CONCLUSION: The incidence of FA is lower in patients with UF. Further studies are needed to find the selective effects of estrogen and progesterone on hormonal receptors of these two tumors.