Many women of childbearing age often begin to experience some chest discomfort. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to seek medical help, but naively hope that everything will go away on their own. In fact, such problems can lead to serious breast diseases. One of these troubles is the disease of mastopathy. Such an ailment usually has disastrous consequences for women, it is characterized by inflammation, the development of a tumor, sometimes turning into a malignant one.
What is this?
Mastopathy is a disease of the mammary glands with pathological irradiation of connective and epithelial tissues, resulting in pain and secretion. Statistical studies show that today the disease began to appear in women much more often than 10 years ago. It affects not only patients of childbearing age, but also older ladies, as well as girls who have just established a menstrual cycle. In the presence of any gynecological disease, the risk that mastopathy will develop also increases.
Causes of occurrence
Breast problems canbe caused by various pathological factors. Often women do not pay attention to the first signs of the disease, which can threaten them with serious complications in the future. Therefore, if the chest hurts, mastopathy should be ruled out first.
The risk group includes women who have a history of tumor formation in the organs of the gynecological sphere (inflammation, cysts, fibroids, etc.), endometrioid disorders and other diseases of hormonal etiology. Also, pathological factors include diabetes mellitus, diseases of the adrenal glands, thyroid gland, obesity, hypertension, irregular sex life of a woman.
The presence of depression, stress or neurosis also negatively affects the he alth of the breast. It is impossible to exclude the patient's genetic predisposition, the absence of pregnancy or childbirth before the age of 30, as well as a history of abortion. In women who have given birth, focal mastopathy may occur due to refusal or interruption of breastfeeding, long-term hormonal therapy. Young girls are at increased risk of getting sick when wearing uncomfortable or tight underwear, the metal bones of which cause injury to the chest, as well as smoking and alcohol abuse.
Types and forms
In medicine, two main forms of mastopathy are known: nodular and diffuse. Nodular is characterized by the presence of single compacted inclusions in the gland, diffuse - by their many. Depending on the nature of the growth of cysts, papillomas and fibroadenomas in the chest, the diffuse form includes fibrocystic mastopathy. By structurethe nodes formed in the gland, it is divided into the following types:
- with a predominance of the fibrous component;
- with a predominance of the cystic component;
- mixed.
Features of fibrous mastopathy
Fibrous mastopathy is a disease that is characterized by the occurrence of fibrosis in the connective tissue of the mammary gland. The symptoms of this form of the disease include the appearance of small lumps in the tissues of the breast, a change in the sensation of the nipples, itching, and irritation. Similar signs occur in the middle of the menstrual cycle and can fluctuate with varying degrees of severity. After menstruation, the above symptoms subside, and a period of "improvement" of the patient's condition begins.
The exact causes of fibrous mastopathy, unfortunately, remain unclear. It is believed that the mammary glands in women are inflamed due to a number of pathological factors. An important role in the occurrence of the disease is played by heredity. The formation of fibrous lumps is caused by a hormonal disorder in the body. A surge of hormones leads to swelling of the ducts in the mammary gland and entails water retention in the body. Signs of fibrous mastopathy are more common in women of childbearing age.
The peculiarity of this form of the disease is that it rarely passes into the oncological stage. In addition, fibrous cones are characterized by softness on palpation, the ability to move freely inside the gland, which is what distinguishes them from cancerous ones. The mammary glands in women withoncological signs, on the contrary, have solid and immovable inclusions.
Fibrous mastopathy is treated with conservative methods and diet. With this form of mastopathy, coffee, tea, alcoholic beverages should be excluded from the diet, since they contain methylxanthines. These substances increase the production of the stress hormone, which leads to the formation of fibrous lumps in the breast. The diet should include fish rich in iodine, vegetables, greens. But meat products should be abandoned for a while.
Features of cystic mastopathy
Cystic mastopathy (photos of diagnostic studies are given below) is characterized by breast engorgement. This is due to the growth of pathological tissues, in which cystic formations of various sizes and quantities appear. The causes of the disease in most cases are an excess of estrogens and a lack of progesterone in the patient. Other causes include heredity, breast trauma, frequent abortions, infertility, or late first births. This also includes endocrine disorders, stress and neurosis, bad habits.
If a woman has chest pain, mastopathy may be one of the causes of this symptom. Other signs include a feeling of heaviness, discomfort in the mammary gland, secretion from the nipples, the formation of seals and knots. These symptoms are directly related to the patient's menstrual cycle, which is accompanied by breast swelling. Treatment occurs by taking hormonal drugs. Advanced cases require surgicalintervention (puncture or resection of the affected part of the gland).
Diagnosis of disease
The main method for detecting breast diseases is a regular examination by a mammologist or oncologist. On examination, the doctor notes the structural features of the mammary glands, the appearance of signs of any change in them. By the way, a woman can independently examine her breasts by palpation of the glands to detect any seals in them, for example, cystic focal mastopathy is palpated in this way quite well. Additional diagnostic methods include mammography and ultrasound examination of the mammary glands, determination of the level of sex hormones in the blood.
Drug treatment of mastopathy
Many diseases caused by hormonal disorders are treated with hormones, including mastopathy. This is the most reasonable method, which is used only after receiving the results of hormone tests. Otherwise, the problem can only get worse.
Medicines used in medical practice to treat this disease include hormonal, combined oral medications, contraceptives, antiestrogen and homeopathic medicines. However, hormones are prescribed when other drugs fail to do the job.
The purpose of conservative therapy is to reduce pain, reduce the inflammatory process in the tissues of the gland, resorption of cysts and fibrosis, as well asprevention of recurrence and cancer. If the patient has concomitant diseases of the sexual or endocrine sphere, treatment should be adjusted taking into account the recommendations of a gynecologist or endocrinologist. It is also important to exclude nervous disorders and diseases of internal organs.
In recent years, doctors have widely used new medicines to eliminate breast problems in women, such as Progestogel, Mammoleptin, Mastodipon, Wobenzim and others. It has been noticed that the new generation drugs quite effectively suppress the development of such a disease as mastopathy at the initial stage. Methods of treatment with drugs in the fibrocystic form of the disease and in the presence of a genetic predisposition to oncological tumors of the breast, unfortunately, are ineffective. In especially difficult cases, the disease is treated surgically.
Surgical treatment
Mastopathy is a disease that undergoes surgery to remove the affected breast tissue. The fibrocystic form is precisely the case when conservative treatment does not bring positive results. If single or multiple nodes are diagnosed in the gland, the surgeon removes them and sends the biomaterial for histological examination. This procedure allows you to identify the nature of neoplasms (malignant or benign), on which further treatment will subsequently depend.
Need for histology after surgery
If the resultshistological examination will reveal cancer cells in the biomaterial sent for analysis, then the woman will be prescribed a course of chemotherapy. This will destroy cancer cells in the body. To monitor the state of he alth, the patient will regularly undergo a tomographic examination using contrast, a special substance that allows you to see cancer cells on the tomograph monitor. When contrast is injected into a vein, malignant cells actively absorb it and stain, which makes them clearly distinguishable during diagnostics.
Is physical therapy rational?
Physiotherapy for mastopathy is rarely used. This is due to the increased risk of tumor degeneration into a malignant formation. The only method of physiological treatment of this disease is hirudotherapy. With its help, stagnation in tissues is eliminated, normal blood circulation in the mammary glands is restored, which contributes to the resorption of nodules.
Traditional medicine for mastopathy
If a woman is diagnosed with mastopathy, this is not a reason to despair. With timely diagnosis of the disease, it can be treated with folk methods, and quite successfully. It is worth saying that the decision to use alternative medicine prescriptions should be made by the attending physician. Of the most popular remedies for the treatment of mastopathy, compresses, lotions, poultices, ointments and oils are used. Inside take tinctures and decoctions of medicinal plants.
Do not apply hot poultices to the skin of the chest if there is reddening of the epitheli altissues, fever, edema. It is also not recommended to use external agents in the presence of skin rashes. Treatment should be aimed at eliminating pain in the gland, resorption of cysts and fibrous tissues, preventing the development of complications and malignant tumors.
For the preparation of decoctions and tinctures, immunomodulating plants, antitumor and gonadotropic plants (acting on the sex glands) should be used. Anticancer drugs include wormwood, thistle, burdock, cinquefoil, birch, elderberry and plant poisons (celandine, fly agaric, mistletoe, hemlock, and others). Aloe, echinacea, propolis, elecampane are used as immunomodulators.
Prevention
In order to prevent mastopathy, simple preventive measures should be followed:
- regularly visit a mammologist and gynecologist;
- avoid stress, nervous strain;
- wear comfortable underwear;
- lead a he althy lifestyle, give up bad habits;
- watch your weight;
- do not self-medicate.
When all the recommendations are followed, women significantly increase the chances of avoiding mastopathy or identifying the disease at an early stage.
