Atlas of Pathology images of Fibrocystic disease changes

A mass characterized by fibrocystic change is a pathological rather than a clinical diagnosis. A fibrocystic mass is diagnosed based on the presence of 2 important features: fibrous connective tissue and cysts

Fibrocystic changes are defined as Cystic changes and apocrine metaplasia involving terminal duct lobular units (TDLU) of breast tissue.

This image shows Extensive fibrocystic changes in serially sectioned formalin fixed breast tissue :

Note that the cysts are of various size are interspersed by dense fibrous tissue. This patient, who was in a high risk category for breast carcinoma, elected to have bilateral mastectomies with prosthetic implants. This degree of "fibrocystic change" becomes impossible to follow on mammograms due to complex shadows from the dense fibrous tissue.

Another gross picture for breast tissue with fibrocystic changes :

Note presence of "Blue dome" wich is a benign cysts filled by serous fluid often have this blue color when viewed from the outside



The next image is for Microscopic picture of Fibrocystic changes, including cystic dilatation, apocrine metaplasia, florid ductal hyperplasia, and fibrosis.