Both rapid growth and infarction may be associated with pain and a mass difficult to distinguish from cancer. Such calcifications may be the remnants of asymptomatic infarcts. This is the gross appearance of a typical mammary hamartoma. The yellow color is due to the high fat content, which may result in a characteristic mammographic appearance. Often these uncommon lesions are diagnosed for the first time after pregnancy, when post-lactational involution allows the surrounding breast parenchyma to shrink.
Excision is the treatment of choice when a mass or breast asymmetry is present.
Nodular lactational hyperplasia and lactating adenomas are benign focal lesions that may be single or multiple. The clinical presentation and appearance is similar to fibroadenoma. Occasionally the normal breast enlargement accompanying pregnancy becomes massively exaggerated. The breasts often regress postpartum, but recurrence may occur with subsequent pregnancies. Reduction mammoplasty is an option.