Fibroepithelial tumor (fibroadenoma) occurring in the female is of special interest, not only because it is entirely benign but also because, as it occurs frequently in young persons, the physician is often called on for reassurance.
In the six year period from 1931 to 1936 inclusive, 2,585 patients consulted the Skin and Cancer Unit of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital (formerly Stuyvesant Square Hospital) for disorders localized in the breast (table 1).
The benign tumors included adenoma, cystadenoma, fibroadenoma, fibroma, galactocele, hemangioma, lipoma, lymphangioma, neurofibroma and papilloma.
It is of interest that benign tumors outnumbered malignant tumors. Some years ago statistics showed a reverse order, for at the Halstead Clinic 80 per cent of tumors were malignant, while Erdmann1 found 56 per cent to be malignant. In the present series only 39 per cent were malignant. This decrease probably indicates a more intelligent attitude of the