Differential diagnosis and management of giant fibroadenoma: Comparing excision with reduction mammoplasty incision and excision with inframammary incision

Giant fibroadenoma (GFA) may present with breast asymmetry and can be excised with an inframammary incision (IFI) or reduction mammoplasty incision (RMI). This study investigated the clinical presentation and compared excision with the IFI and RMI. All patients with benign breast tumours greater than 5 cm underwent core needle biopsy and a histopathological diagnosis. All confirmed GFA had their clinical details documented and randomised into two groups for excision with an IFI or RMI. Twenty-two patients were studied. The age range was 1246 years, mean 21.18 ± 2.22 years. The patients were divided into two groups: a juvenile group (n 16) (73%) aged 1218 years, mean age 14.06 ± 0.42 years, and a perimenopausal group (n 5) aged 2846 years. The juvenile group showed cyclic increases in breast size monthly with menstruation while the perimenopausal showed an initial slow growth of 624 months followed by a rapid growth. Fifteen patients (68%) had excision biopsy with IMI and seven patients with RMI. Seven of the patients treated with IFI had minimal preoperative asymmetry and satisfactory aesthetic outcome. Among the patients with severe preoperative asymmetry treated with IFI (n 8) and RMI (n 7), those treated with IFI had persistent postoperative skin redundancy and asymmetry, which was not found in those treated with RMI. In conclusion, for patients with significant asymmetry, excision with the IFI was associated with persistent asymmetry while excision with RMI was associated with restoration of symmetry. © 2012 Informa Healthcare.