Multiple benign and malign intra- and extramammary diseases may induce a symptomatic oedema of the breast. 10 similar roentgenograms, which show an oedematous imbibition of the mammary corpus, were selected from a total of 3452 radiographs of the breast. Patients with representative findings, due to different disorders, are presented as case reports: diffuse infiltrating carcinoma of the breast, lymphogranulomatosis, diffuse metastasizing contralateral carcinoma of the breast, thrombosis of v. subclavia/axillaris, and decompensated cardiac failure. The various aetiologies are discussed for differential diagnosis.