This book is intended to be a basic guide in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of breast lesions. The goal was to produce a book that would not only be suited to the needs of medical students, but also one that the student would carry into practice. It represents the crystallization of my personal experience based on 14,000 records of patients with diseases of the breast that I have treated during the last 35 years. Throughout all these years, I have continuously photographed patients with demonstrable and visible clinical problems. I have used this material for the purpose of teaching medical students, residents, and physicians involved in the care of female patients. As they have found my photographic library of enormous benefit as a reference guide, I decided to write this textbook in the form of an atlas.

I believe that a guideline should be simple and practical. With this in mind, only the most common breast lesions seen in daily practice are discussed. The reader is referred to the many textbooks available for the more complex and rare breast lesions. A list of suggested readings is provided at the end of this text. Traditional basic science chapters on anatomy, embryology, and physiology were purposely omitted. When appropriate, basic science is discussed in the pertinent clinical sections. Some mammogram images and histopathology are included in the discussion of each clinical problem, leading to some inevitable duplication.