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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffAtypical hyperplasia is usually discovered after a biopsy to evaluate a suspicious area in your breast. During the biopsy, tissue samples are removed and sent for analysis by a specially trained doctor (pathologist). The tissue samples are examined under a microscope, and the pathologist identifies atypical hyperplasia, if it's present.
To further evaluate atypical hyperplasia, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove a larger sample of tissue to look for breast cancer. A diagnosis of atypical hyperplasia often leads to a surgical biopsy (wide local excision or lumpectomy) to remove all of the affected tissue. The pathologist looks at the larger specimen for evidence of in situ or invasive cancer.
- Non-cancerous breast conditions. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6X_Non_Cancerous_Breast_Conditions_59.asp. Accessed Aug. 19, 2009.
- Miltenburg DM, et al. Benign breast disease. Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America. 2008;35:285.
- Hartmann LC, et al. Benign breast disease and the risk of breast cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2005;353:229.
- London SJ, et al. A prospective study of benign breast disease and the risk of breast cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1992;267:941.
- Degnim AC, et al. Stratification of breast cancer risk in women with atypia: A Mayo cohort study. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2007;25:2671.
- Dupont WD, et al. Breast cancer risk associated with proliferative breast disease and atypical hyperplasia. Cancer. 1993;71:1258.
- Kiluk JV, et al. High-risk benign breast lesions: Current strategies in management. Cancer Control. 2007;14:321.
- Breast cancer screening and diagnosis. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/breast-screening.pdf. Accessed Aug. 21, 2009.
- Breast cancer risk reduction. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/breast_risk.pdf. Accessed Aug. 21, 2009.
