Atypical epithelial hyperplasia of the breast: state of the art.

International audience; Introduction: Atypical epithelial hyperplasia (AEH) of the breast is considered benign histological lesions with breast cancer risk. This review focuses on clinical signification and management of AEH that remains controversial. Areas covered: A review of published studies was performed using medline database. In this review, we fully describe the current evidence available. In particular, we describe 1) data from immunohistochemistry and molecular studies that suggest AEH is a precursor of breast cancer; 2) epidemiological studies demonstrate low rate of breast cancer in women with AEH; 3) surgical excision is necessary after diagnosis of AEH, such as lobular carcin…