Which appearance is typical of a benign fibroadenoma on mammography?

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A benign fibroadenoma tends to grow with a smooth, defined border, reflecting its expansion without invading surrounding tissue. On mammography this shows up as a well-circumscribed, round or oval dense mass with smooth margins. That clean, uniform contour signals a benign process rather than the irregular, infiltrative edges seen with malignancy. While fibroadenomas can sometimes harbor calcifications, they are usually benign-appearing (such as popcorn-like coarse calcifications in involuting lesions) and do not produce the diffuse coarse pattern or ill-defined, spiculated appearance that suggest cancer. So the description of a discrete, well-defined, smooth-margined mass is the hallmark appearance of a benign fibroadenoma.