Briefly describe 5 diseases that should be differentiated from breast cancer

Many diseases have similar symptoms to breast cancer. Learning to identify breast cancer helps to detect the disease early and is of great significance in guiding treatment. In clinical practice, breast cancer needs to be differentiated from diseases such as breast hyperplasia, chronic mastitis and abscesses, mammary duct dilatation, acute mastitis, and breast fat necrosis.

1. Breast hyperplasia

The main manifestation of breast hyperplasia is thickening of breast tissue. Later, nodules of varying sizes can be felt. There is no adhesion to the skin and the back of the breast. It is usually obvious before menstruation and can be relieved or eliminated after menstruation.

2. Chronic mastitis and abscess

Chronic mastitis and abscess often result in the formation of abscesses, which feel like lumps when touched, have unclear edges, are cystic in feel, may cause mild tenderness, and have a mild sense of adhesion to the surrounding tissues.

3. Mammary duct dilatation

The main symptoms of mammary duct ectasia are breast pain, nipple discharge, and nipple inversion. The nipple discharge is mostly serous or purulent and contains a large number of inflammatory cells.

4. Acute mastitis

Acute mastitis is common in secretory breasts, especially 3 to 4 weeks after the first delivery, but there is no orange peel-like changes in the breast skin, no satellite nodules, and breast masses rarely occupy the entire breast. More than half of them are cystic, and anti-inflammatory treatment is effective.

5. Breast fat necrosis

Breast fat necrosis lacks characteristic clinical manifestations. The lumps are generally hard and irregular in shape, which are very similar to the manifestations of breast cancer.