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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
No treatment is necessary for simple breast cysts. Your doctor may recommend nothing more than closely monitoring a breast cyst to see if it resolves on its own.
Fine-needle aspiration
Fine-needle aspiration, the procedure used to diagnose a breast cyst, also may serve as treatment, if your doctor removes all the fluid from the cyst at the time of diagnosis, your breast lump disappears and your symptoms resolve.
First, your doctor feels your breast to locate the cyst and hold it steady. Next, he or she inserts a thin needle into the breast lump and withdraws (aspirates) the cyst fluid. Often, fine-needle aspiration is done using ultrasound to guide accurate placement of the needle.
- If the fluid is nonbloody and the breast lump disappears, you need no further treatment.
- If the fluid appears bloody or the breast lump doesn't disappear, your doctor may send a sample of the fluid for laboratory testing and refer you to a breast surgeon or to a radiologist for follow-up.
- If no fluid is withdrawn, your doctor will likely recommend an imaging test — such as mammography or ultrasound — and possibly a biopsy to further evaluate the lump.
If you have breast cysts, you may need to have fluid drained more than once. Recurrent or new cysts are common.
Hormone use
Using oral contraceptives to regulate your menstrual cycles may help reduce the recurrence of breast cysts. Discontinuing hormone replacement therapy during the postmenopausal years may reduce the formation of cysts as well.
Surgery
Surgical removal of a breast cyst is necessary only in a few unusual circumstances. If an uncomfortable breast cyst recurs month after month, or if a breast cyst contains blood-tinged fluid and displays other worrisome signs, surgery may be considered.
- Non-cancerous breast conditions. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6X_Non_Cancerous_Breast_Conditions_59.asp?sitearea. Accessed April 7, 2010.
- Lucas JH, et al. Breast cyst aspiration. American Family Physician. 2003;68:1983.
- Sabel MS. Overview of benign breast disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 9, 2010.
- Courtillot C, et al. Benign breast diseases. Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia. 2005;10:325.
- Understanding breast changes: A health guide for women. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/understanding-breast-changes. Accessed April 9, 2010.
- Laronga C, et al. Breast cysts: Diagnosis and management. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 9, 2010.
- Miltenberg DM, et al. Benign breast disease. Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America. 2008;35:285.
- Pruthi S, et al. Vitamin E and evening primrose oil for management of cyclical mastalgia: A randomized pilot study. Alternative Medicine Reviews. 2010;15:59.
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