Benign breast disease: the cost of the service and the cost to the patient.

The patients attending a hospital breast clinic during 1 year have been reviewed to assess the impact and cost of benign conditions. Four of 5 patients referred do not have cancer. The cost to the patient lies predominantly in anxiety related to the possibility of cancer and, to a lesser extent, in cosmetic damage due to multiple biopsies. Benign breast disease is a common problem that creates severe anxiety in many women and a heavy burden on an overstretched National Health Service. A policy of reeducating general practitioners when it is safe not to refer may reduce this problem. Cyst aspiration or needle aspiration cytology may reduce the burden to both the patient and the health service, while desensitization of women's groups and women themselves to the needs for breast self-examination can also reduce this burden.