Objectives: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a benign rare inflammatory pseudotumor. Final diagnosis is made by biopsy and histopathology. The goals of this study were to present clinical features of IGM and to evaluate the results of treatments.
Materials and methods: Ten female cases who fullfield required clinical and histologic criteria of IGM were enrolled in the study. Demographic data, clinical presentation, medication history, and radiologic results are presented. To confirm the difference in clinical course between IGM patients and other inflammatory breast disease patients, a review of the clinical and pathological data was also performed for patients with symptoms similar to these IGM patients.
Results: The Median age was 28 years (range 22–42). Nine patients had no recurrence during the follow-up period. Bacterial cultures and pathological tissue diagnosis were performed. After median follow-up of 15 months (range 6–24), one (10%) patient developed disease recurrence, as confirmed by repeat histological examination.
Conclusion: According to our findings, histopathology of the disease is fundamental for correct diagnosis. Corticosteroid therapy as a sole therapeutic method (prednisolone) proved to be an applicable and effective choice in the control of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis by decreasing inflammation. Surgical management should be avoided unless all medical treatment options have been exhausted. IGM is a chronic breast inflammatory disease with a recurrence incidence of 10% in the present study, especially if there is history of cigarette smoke exposure and/or isolation of Corynebacterium from tissue/pus sample.