Fibroadenoma

Exam relevance: in 12 of 197 board exam reports · rank 59

Synonyms
breast lump
Specialty
Gynaecology · Breast
Images
Clinical 4 · Ultrasound 4
Exam relevance
12 of 197 reports · rank 59
In the app
2 flashcards · GynFuchs
Last updated
10/2026 · Dr. Pascal Bafteh
Contents
  1. Images (8)
  2. Definition
  3. Occurrence & epidemiology
  4. Aetiopathogenesis
  5. Clinical features
  6. Histology
  7. Diagnosis
  8. Keep learning in the app
  9. Further reading (selection)
  10. Cross-references

Images (8)

Fibroadenoma – Clinical: Inflammatory breast cancer: diffuse erythema, oedema, and peau d'orange without fever
Inflammatory breast cancer: diffuse erythema, oedema, and peau d'orange without feverImage: Guo M, Liu G, Han X, Jiao R, Li J. (Frontiers in oncology 2026) · CC BY 4.0 · Source · cropped
Fibroadenoma – Ultrasound: Breast ultrasound: hypoechoic collection with an irregular wall — breast abscessUltrasound
Breast ultrasound: hypoechoic collection with an irregular wall — breast abscessImage: Nevit Dilmen (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source · cropped
Fibroadenoma – Clinical: Puerperal mastitis: wedge-shaped erythema and warmth of the lower outer quadrant
Puerperal mastitis: wedge-shaped erythema and warmth of the lower outer quadrantImage: XXXANONXXX3245 (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · cropped
Fibroadenoma – Ultrasound: Breast ultrasound: oval, smooth-bordered, homogeneously hypoechoic mass, wider than tall — typical fibroadenomaUltrasound
Breast ultrasound: oval, smooth-bordered, homogeneously hypoechoic mass, wider than tall — typical fibroadenomaImage: Nevit Dilmen (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source · cropped
Fibroadenoma – Ultrasound: Breast ultrasound: dilated milk duct with a solid intraluminal mass — intraductal papillomaUltrasound
Breast ultrasound: dilated milk duct with a solid intraluminal mass — intraductal papillomaImage: Nevit Dilmen (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source · cropped
Fibroadenoma – Clinical
Image: Nevit Dilmen (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Fibroadenoma – Ultrasound: Breast ultrasound: complicated cyst with a solid internal component — therefore BI-RADS 4Ultrasound
Breast ultrasound: complicated cyst with a solid internal component — therefore BI-RADS 4Image: SCiardullo (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · cropped
Fibroadenoma – Clinical
Image: Nevit Dilmen (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
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Definition

Lumps in the breast

  • A fibroadenoma is the most common benign breast tumour in young women, firm, well-circumscribed, and mobile.
  • Benign, solid breast tumour composed of epithelial and stromal tissue.

Occurrence & epidemiology

Epidemiology

  • Fibroadenoma is the most common benign breast tumour.
  • It occurs most commonly between 14 and 35 years but can be found at any age; it is less common after the menopause.

Aetiopathogenesis

Aetiology

  • Fibroadenomas are hormone dependent: they enlarge with increased oestrogen and progesterone activity, in pregnancy and lactation, and decrease in size around the menopause.

Clinical features

  • Typical is a painless, unilateral, rubbery, smoothly bordered and highly mobile lump (breast mouse).

Histology

  • Histology shows proliferation of ductal epithelium and stroma with intracanalicular and pericanalicular growth patterns.
  • A fibroadenoma is termed complex when cysts larger than 3 mm, sclerosing adenosis, epithelial calcifications or papillary apocrine metaplasia are present; it tends to occur in older women.

Diagnosis

Benign features on ultrasound

  • Fibroadenoma: A typical fibroadenoma is oval, oriented parallel to the skin, with smooth or gently lobulated margins and homogeneously hypoechoic.
  • Cyst: A simple cyst is sonographically anechoic, well-defined and shows posterior acoustic enhancement with lateral edge shadows.
  • Growth pattern: A displacing rather than infiltrating growth pattern suggests benignity.

Typical imaging findings

  • Ultrasound: The lesion is oval, smoothly and gently lobulated, and clearly wider than tall, that is parallel to the skin. Its internal structure is homogeneously hypoechoic; there is mild posterior enhancement and no shadowing.
  • Ultrasound typically shows a smooth, oval, hypoechoic mass.
  • Densely calcified fibroadenomas show the typical coarse popcorn pattern on mammography and CT.

Keep learning in the app

In the GynFuchs app you can learn Fibroadenoma with flashcards, exam questions and image tasks (colposcopy, ultrasound, CTG) – free, in your browser or as an app.

In the app: 2 flashcards on this topic

Open in browser  About GynFuchs →

Further reading (selection)

  1. StatPearls: Breast Fibroadenoma (NCBI Bookshelf)
  2. Cytomorphological Features of Complex Fibroadenoma Breast (J Cytol 2023, PubMed Central)
  3. Beyond the lung: recognizing incidental breast lesions on chest computed tomography (Transl Cancer Res 2026, PubMed Central)
  4. DocCheck Flexikon, Mastitis non-puerperalis
  5. DocCheck Flexikon, Mammasonographie

Cross-references

More topics: Breast

Note: Learning content from the GynFuchs app (flashcards, exam questions, image cases) for medical education – not a treatment recommendation and no substitute for diagnosis or treatment decisions in individual cases. Treatment and management are deliberately not covered on this page.