A Case Series of Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: Surgical Intervention is not the Only Option

Abstract

Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis (IGM) is a benign inflammatory disease of the breast that is difficult to treat, as there is no definitive protocol for management and it has a higher recurrence rate. The present case series presents five patients who exhibited clinical symptoms such as breast swelling, pain and nipple discharge, and were diagnosed with IGM. They were treated with a multimodality approach (surgical and/or conservative management) based on their symptoms. All patients were successfully treated for IGM using the multimodality approach. While a recurrence was observed in one out of five patients, it was further successfully treated with additional conservative management. The proposed multimodality treatment is effective in treating IGM. It eliminates the risk associated with surgical intervention among patients clinically diagnosed with IGM. It also eliminates the risk of corticosteroid side-effects among patients whose initial clinical diagnosis and postoperative histopathological examination is negative for IGM.

Keywords

• benign inflammatory disease
• corticosteroid treatment
• mammography
• methotrexate
• prednisolone