Mastopathy is ... Causes, symptoms and prevention of mastopathy

Many women of fertile age often begin to experience some discomfort in the chest. Unfortunately, not everyone is eager to seek medical help, but they are naively hoping that everything will pass by themselves. In fact, such problems can lead to serious chest diseases. One such trouble is mastopathy. Such an ailment usually has deplorable consequences for women, it is characterized by inflammation, the development of a tumor, sometimes turning into a malignant one.

What it is?

Mastopathy is a disease of the mammary glands with pathological irradiation of connective and epithelial tissues, which causes pain and secret secretions. Statistical studies suggest 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 elderly ladies, as well as girls who only have a menstrual cycle. If there is any gynecological disease, the risk of developing a mastopathy disease increases.

Causes

Problems with the mammary glands can be caused by various pathological factors. Often, women do not pay attention to the first signs of the disease, which may in the future threaten them with serious complications. 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.), endometriosis disorders and other diseases of hormonal etiology. Also, pathological factors include diabetes mellitus, adrenal gland diseases, thyroid gland, obesity, hypertension, irregular sexual life of a woman.

The presence of depression, stress or neurosis also adversely affects the health of the breast. You can not exclude the genetic predisposition of the patient, the absence of pregnancy or childbirth until the age of 30, as well as abortions in the anamnesis. In women giving birth, focal mastopathy can occur due to refusal or interruption of breastfeeding, prolonged hormonal therapy. Young girls are at increased risk of getting sick when wearing uncomfortable or tight underwear, whose metal bones cause chest trauma, as well as abuse of smoking and alcohol.

Types and forms

In medicine, there are two main forms of mastopathy: nodular and diffuse. Nodular is characterized by the presence in the gland of single compacted inclusions, the diffuse one is their set. Depending on the nature of the growth of cysts, papillomas and fibroadenomas in the chest, the diffuse form includes fibrocystic mastopathy. According to the structure of the 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 characterized by the onset of fibrosis in the connective tissue of the breast. Symptoms of this form of illness include the appearance of small lumps in the tissues of the breast, a change in the sensation of the nipples, itching, irritation. Similar signs appear in the middle of the menstrual cycle and can fluctuate with varying degrees of severity. After menstruation, the above symptoms are weakened, and a period of "improvement" in the patient's condition begins.

The exact causes of the onset of fibrotic mastopathy, unfortunately, remain unclarified. It is believed that the mammary glands become inflamed in women for a number of pathological factors. Heredity plays an important role in the appearance of the disease. The formation of fibrous lumps is caused by a hormonal disorder in the body. A surge of hormones leads to the swelling of the ducts in the mammary gland and entails a water retention in the body. Signs of fibrotic mastopathy are more common in women of childbearing age.

The peculiarity of this form of ailment lies in the fact that it rarely passes into the oncological stage. In addition, fibrous cones are characterized by softness in palpation, the ability to move freely inside the gland, which is different from cancer. Mammary glands in women with oncological signs, on the contrary, have firm and motionless inclusions.

Fibrous mastopathy is treated with conservative methods and diet. With this form of mastopathy, you should exclude coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages 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. In the diet should include fish, rich in iodine, vegetables, greens. But from meat products should be abandoned for a while.

Features of cystic mastopathy

Cystic mastopathy (photos of diagnostic tests are given below) is characterized by engorgement of the mammary glands. This is due to the proliferation of pathological tissues, in which cystic formations of various sizes and quantities appear. The causes of the disease in most cases are the excess of estrogens and the lack of progesterone in the patient. Other reasons include heredity, breast trauma, frequent abortions, infertility or late first childbirth. This includes endocrine disorders, stress and neurosis, bad habits.

If a woman has chest pain, mastopathy can be one of the reasons for the appearance of this symptom. Other signs include a feeling of heaviness, discomfort in the mammary gland, secretion of secretions from the nipples, the formation of seals and knots. These symptoms are directly related to the menstrual cycle of the patient, which is accompanied by swelling of the breast. Treatment is by taking hormonal drugs. The initiated cases require surgical intervention (puncture or resection of the affected part of the gland).

Diagnosis of the disease

The main method of detecting breast diseases is regular examination by a mammalogist or an oncologist. Upon examination, the doctor notes the features of the structure 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 glands to detect any seals in them, for example, cystic focal mastopathy is felt in this way quite well. Additional diagnostic methods include mammography and ultrasound studies of the mammary glands, determination of the level of sex hormones in the blood.

Medication of mastopathy

Many diseases, the cause of which is hormonal disorder, are treated with hormones, including mastopathy. This is the most reasonable method, which is used only after obtaining the results of tests for hormones. Otherwise, the problem can only worsen.

To medicinal products that are used in medical practice for the treatment of this disease include hormonal, combined oral drugs, contraceptives, antiestrogens and homeopathic medicines. However, hormones are prescribed in the case when other drugs can not cope with the task.

The goal of conservative therapy is to reduce pain, reduce inflammation in the gland tissues, resolve cysts and fibrosis, and prevent relapse and oncology. If the patient has concomitant diseases of the sexual or endocrine area, 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, new medications such as Progestogel, Mammoleptin, Mastodipon, Wobenzym and others have been widely used to eliminate problems with breasts in women. It is noted that new generation drugs quite effectively suppress the development of such a disease as mastopathy at the initial stage. The methods of treatment with drugs in the fibrous-cystic form of the disease and in the presence of a genetic predisposition to oncological tumors of the breast, unfortunately, are ineffective. In particularly difficult cases, the ailment is treated promptly.

Surgery

Mastopathy is a disease that undergoes surgery to remove affected breast tissue. The fibro-cystic 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 tumors (malignant or benign), from which subsequent treatment will depend on.

The need for histology after surgery

If the results of a histological examination reveal cancer cells in the biomaterial sent for analysis, a chemotherapy course will be administered to a woman. This will destroy cancer cells in the body. To monitor the patient's health, the patient will regularly undergo a tomographic examination using contrast, a special substance that allows to see cancer cells on a tomograph monitor. When contrast is introduced into a vein, malignant cells actively absorb and stain it, which makes them well distinguishable in the diagnosis.

Rationally physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy with mastopathy is rarely used. This is due to the increased level of danger of tumor degeneration into 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 facilitates resorption of nodules.

Traditional Medicine in Mastopathy

If a woman is diagnosed with "mastopathy", this is no reason to despair. With the timely diagnosis of the disease, it can be treated with folk methods, and quite successfully. It is worth saying that the decision to use prescriptions for alternative medicine should be made by the attending physician. Of the most popular means for the treatment of mastopathy apply compresses, lotions, poultices ointment and oils. Inside take tinctures and decoctions of medicinal plants.

Do not apply hot poultices to the skin of the breast, if there is redness of epithelial tissues, fever, swelling. It is also not recommended to use external means in the presence of skin rashes. Treatment should be aimed at eliminating the pain syndrome in the gland, resorption of cysts and fibrotic tissues, preventing the development of complications and malignant tumors.

For the preparation of decoctions and infusions should be used plant immunomodulators, antineoplastic and gonadotropic plants (acting on the sex glands). To antineoplastic agents include sagebrush, hood, burdock, sabelnik, birch, elderberry and vegetable poisons (celandine, fly agaric, mistletoe, hemlock and others). As immunomodulators use aloe, echinacea, propolis, elecampane.

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 healthy lifestyle, abandon bad habits;

- follow the weight;

- Do not engage in self-medication.

In the implementation of all recommendations, women significantly increase the chances of avoiding mastopathy or identify the disease at an early stage.