Breast Pathology and Cancer Diagnosis

Atypical hyperplasia

Atypical hyperplasia is a precancerous condition that affects cells in the breast. It describes an accumulation of abnormal cells in the breast which isn't cancer, but it can be a forerunner to the development of breast cancer. Over the course of your lifetime, if the atypical hyperplasia cells keep dividing and become more abnormal, this can transit into non-invasive breast cancer (carcinoma in situ) or invasive breast cancer. If you've been diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia, you have an increased risk of developing breast cancer in the future. For this reason, doctors often recommend intensive breast cancer screening and medications to reduce breast cancer risk. Atypical hyperplasia typically doesn't cause symptoms, but it may cause changes to appear on a mammogram. Atypical hyperplasia is usually discovered during a breast biopsy to investigate an abnormality found on a mammogram. Sometimes atypical hyperplasia is discovered on a biopsy done for a different condition.