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Complex fibroadenoma and breast cancer risk: a Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort Study

  • Epidemiology
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the breast cancer risk overall among women with simple fibroadenoma or complex fibroadenoma and to examine the association of complex fibroadenoma with breast cancer through stratification of other breast cancer risks. The study included women aged 18–85 years from the Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort who underwent excisional breast biopsy from 1967 through 1991. Within this cohort, women who had fibroadenoma were compared to women who did not have fibroadenoma. Breast cancer risk (observed versus expected) across fibroadenoma levels was assessed through standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) by using age- and calendar-stratified incidence rates from the Iowa Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. Analyses were performed overall, within subgroups of involution status, with other demographic characteristics (age, year of biopsy, indication for biopsy, and family history), and with histologic characteristics, including overall impression [nonproliferative disease, proliferative disease without atypia (PDWA), or atypical hyperplasia]. Fibroadenoma was identified in 2136 women [noncomplex, 1835 (85.9 %); complex, 301 (14.1 %)]. SIR for noncomplex fibroadenoma was 1.49 (95 % CI 1.26–1.74); for complex fibroadenoma, it was 2.27 (95 % CI 1.63–3.10) (test for heterogeneity in SIR, P = .02). However, women with complex fibroadenoma were more likely to have other, concomitant high-risk histologic characteristics (e.g., incomplete involution and PDWA). In analyses stratified by involution status and PDWA, complex fibroadenoma was not an independent risk marker for breast cancer. Complex fibroadenoma does not confer increased breast cancer risk beyond other established histologic characteristics.

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Fig. 1

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Abbreviations

AH:

Atypical hyperplasia

BBD:

Benign breast disease

BC:

Breast cancer

FA:

Fibroadenoma

PDWA:

Proliferative disease without atypia

RR:

Relative risk

SIR:

Standardized incidence ratio

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank T. Allers, J. Johnson, and A. Harris and the Mayo Survey Research Center for data collection. This research was supported by an R01 CA132879 from the National Cancer Institute (Lynn C. Hartmann), the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) grant CA116201 (Lynn C. Hartmann and Derek C. Radisky), and the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation (Lynn C. Hartmann). The funding sources had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors are responsible for the content. The content does not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Correspondence to Aziza Nassar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The Abstract was previously published in poster form at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, San Antonio, Texas, December 4–8, 2012.

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Nassar, A., Visscher, D.W., Degnim, A.C. et al. Complex fibroadenoma and breast cancer risk: a Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort Study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 153, 397–405 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-015-3535-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-015-3535-8

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