X-ray images of unaltered mammary glands are extremely diverse and, according to the French mammologist Gros (1963), are as individual as the face of a woman.

The mammary gland is an organ extremely labile and, like the uterus, undergoes cyclic changes. Before menstruation, proliferation of glandular elements occurs, the tissues swell, the mammary gland is loose, edematic. After menstruation, these phenomena regress.

In accordance with the functional age periods, three types of mammary gland.

The iron of a girl or a young woman (up to 20-25 years). The structure of the gland is almost uniform, the milk ducts are not visible, the width of the premammary space does not exceed 5 mm. The tumors arising in such a gland on X-rays are practically indistinguishable. In this regard, the contrastless mammogram of mammary glands in women under the age of 25 is impractical.

II. Functionally active iron. At the age of 20-25 to 35-40 years, the milky way, representing previously narrow tubes lined with a fairly high epithelium, grows, their lumen increases significantly, numerous branches with an abundance of terminal secretory vesicles appear on the walls.

The terminal departments (acini) during this period acquire a grotesque character, resembling pulmonary acini.

The connective tissue undergoes a reverse development, turning into thin interlayers, in which the blood vessels that feed the gland pass. Due to the growth of the glandular parenchyma, the contour of the glandular triangle, facing the premammary space, becomes uneven, and the structure of the glandular parenchyma is not as homogeneous as at an earlier age.

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