A descriptive study of chronic granulomatous mastitis in Central India

Abstract
Background: Chronic granulomatous mastitis is a rare benign breast condition that can mimic breast cancer. The present study was undertaken to assess the demographics, clinical presentation, etiology, diagnostic tools and management of patients with CGM. Methods: This descriptive observational study was conducted in total 83 women who presented with breast lump with tenderness associated with fever for more than 4 weeks of duration in the Department of General Surgery at Tertiary Care Centre from June 2018 to December 2020. Results: In all cases breast lump was chief complaint, of maximum (38.5%) had this illness since last 1 to 4 months. 48 patients had past history of tuberculosis. Axillary lymph node was enlarged in 24.1% and body temperature was raised in 57.8% of cases. Skins over the lump were presented with indurated with multiple pus discharging sinuses (50.6%) and palpable mass with erythema and ulcerative skin lesion (49.4%). On biopsy all the patients presented with granulomatous mastitis and on USG, hypoechoic mass was presents in all cases. Patients were managed medically by IV antibiotic and AKT (57.8%) and IV antibiotic with oral corticosteroid (42.2%). Incision and drainage were done in 74 cases while 8 required wide local excision and in 1 patient mastectomy was done. Conclusions: The histopathology remains the optimal diagnostic tool. Corticosteroid therapy has been shown to be efficacious for CGM, but in the existence of many complications, surgical treatment has been first method of choice. We consider that wide local excision is the better treatment choice if possible.