Breast fibroadenoma in teenage females.

Over a period of 30 years, the author received surgical specimens of fibroadenoma from doctors who had operated on 530 teenage females of the Igbo ethnic group, who inhabit southeastern Nigeria, West Africa. The peak age was 18 years. The right breast (51.3%) was involved more often than the left (48.7%). There were 58 bilateral cases, i.e., 10.9% of the entire series. Seven teenagers had undergone previous operations for fibroadenoma and five growths were infarcted. The teenagers showed awareness of breast disease as manifested by (a) rising incidence trend during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, (b) little delay in presenting for treatment and (c) smallness of the excised tumors.