[Is the treatment of breast diseases the responsibility of gynecologists?].

The answer is affirmative to the question whether mammary diseases should be treated by the gynaecologist. An attempt is made to substantiate this view by making reference to essential aspects relating to diagnosis and therapy of mammary diseases. Examination of the female breast is part of gynaecological routine diagnosis. Women with mammary complaints usually apply first to their gynaecologist. The female breast, after all is one of the reproductive organs exposed to endocrine effects, just as the genital organs are. Methods of endocrinological therapy have gained growing importance for both benign mammary diseases and mammary carcinoma.