Chapters Transcript Video Diagnosing and Treating Breast Masses in Adolescents Pediatric surgeon Erica Hodgman discusses the diagnosis and treatment of breast masses in adolescents. Yeah, breast masses are very common in adolescent girls. They often will feel a small lump and not tell anyone for a period of time but typically will tell their parents or their primary care provider when they notice that it becomes tender or enlarges over time. Some of the most common ways that these manifest is they actually increase and decrease in size following uh females natural menstrual cycle and this is pretty common and one of the more reassuring signs that this is a benign mass and nothing to really worry about. Typically patients come to see me when they have a breast mass that's persisted over time or has enlarged or has become tender most of the time we obtain an ultrasound. To further characterize the lesion, we look at the size of it, the shape of it and the contour of it. Most of these are benign masses, meaning they are not cancer and they don't pose a risk to health but they can increase in time and actually cause significant amount of stress for both the patient and their family. A common question that we get is whether or not a breast mass will cause deformity to the breast as the girl continues to grow and develop most of the time they're actually pushing away normal breast tissue. And once you remove the mass the breast returns to a more normal shape and contour. We have many different techniques in order to achieve a really excellent cosmetic outcome. Oftentimes we will hide the incision around the edge of the areola or along the underside of the memory fold in order to get a really good cosmetic outcome. Mm. Mhm. Typically we don't remove breast masses in young girls unless they are greater than five cm or about 2" in size. However, we will remove smaller lesions if they're growing rapidly or if they're causing significant pain. Mm. As a pediatric surgeon, we treat patients From newborns all the way up until 18 years of age. The majority of breast masses are seen in puberty, all females. But we do also occasionally see other abnormalities. And younger Children, babies may be born with accessory nipples, which we can remove for cosmetic reasons. Um We also sometimes see uh newborns with an infection of the breast called neonatal mastitis. That is often treated with just a simple drainage procedure mm Because the Children's center is part of the larger johns Hopkins Medical system. We also have partnerships with breast oncology services, who typically take care of adult patients and that includes dedicated breast radiologists and that helps us to provide excellent care for these patients. Mhm. Created by Related Presenters Erica Hodgman, MD Assistant Director, Pediatric Burn Program Assistant Professor of Surgery EXPERTISE Anorectal Disorders, Biliary Atresia, Branchial Cleft Cysts, Breast Cancer, Burn Care, Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), Gastrointestinal Tumors, Inguinal Hernia, Intestinal Atresia, ... View full profile
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