A patient is newly diagnosed with benign breast disease. The nurse recognizes which statement about benign breast disease to be true?

A) It makes it more difficult to examine the breasts.
B) It is easily reduced with hormone replacement therapy.
C) It frequently turns into cancer in a woman's later years.
D) It is usually diagnosed before a woman reaches childbearing age.

The presence of benign breast disease (formerly fibrocystic breast disease) makes it hard to examine the breasts; the general lumpiness of the breast conceals a new lump. The other statements are not true. Benign breast disease is not treated with hormone replacement therapy and it does not usually turn into cancer, although the nodularity associated with benign breast disease makes it difficult to detect other cancerous lumps. It also is usually diagnosed between 30 and 55 years old (not before childbearing age).