The aim is to determine, how much and of what kind there are “hidden” pathologies in the breasts of adolescent girls.

Ultrasound is the main imaging modality of adolescent breasts, perfectly suitable to evaluate the dense breast tissue.

We share our clinical experience of sonographic evaluation of breasts of non-symptomatic adolescent girls and young adults in 1999 – 2022. Healthy volunteers or adolescents/young adults with non-breast problems were included in the study. The non-symptomatic individuals were divided into 3 groups: the first aged 9 – 13 years; the second aged 14 – 18 years; the third aged 19 – 25 years. This study was approved by Vilnius Regional Biomedical Research Ethics Committee at Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine (69-99-60)

Most of the examined nonsymptomatic girls had no complaints related to their breasts: 83% in the first group, 77% in the second group, 56 % in the third group.

When specifically asked about breast complaints, girls mostly noted mastalgia (14% – 18% – 32% respectively). Nipple discharge, self-palpable breast mass were presented rarely, less than 10% in groups 1 – 2, but reached 23 % in group aged 19 – 25 years.

Various sonographically detected abnormalities in the breasts were found in 9.67% of non-complaining girls. Younger girls (aged 9 – 13 years) had more findings without complaints than older; the explanation could be immature breast tissue. The main features are ductal ectasia and breast cysts (often multiple). Young adults had more complaints without identified ultrasound findings. Neither inflammation nor malignant changes were found in the breasts.