Breast disease: benign and malignant.

Breast diseases, both benign and malignant, are common. Typically, young women present with more benign pathologies; however, breast malignancies can occur in young women, especially in those harboring mutations in the BRCA genes, other inherited genetic syndromes associated with increased risk of breast cancer, or familial predisposition for breast cancer. In all women aged 40 and over presenting with abnormalities of the breast, a primary breast cancer should be ruled out because it is the leading cancer among women in developed countries.