Profile of patients with granulomatous mastitis presenting to a university teaching hospital in UAE: a case series

ABSTRACT

To highlight the profile of five patients diagnosed as having granulomatous mastitis by histopathological examination. This presentation is a case series of patients, diagnosed as idiopathic granulomatous mastitis by histopathological examination of excised specimens. The total number of cases included in the report was five females over a 4-year period from 2005 to 2009. The mean age of the patients was 29.6 years and the duration of symptoms varied from three weeks to four months. All the patients presented with a palpable mass in the breast, and two patients had associated pain and one had a bloody nipple discharge. The average size of the excised masses was 3.8 cm x 3.1 cm. Four out of the five patients diagnosed to have breast abscess or segmental mastitis had taken a course of antibiotics. One patient had a persistent wound sinus which subsided with ATT and the rest of the patients had no post-operative complications. Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis [IGM] is a relatively rare disease which mimics the common breast disorders in the reproductive age group including malignancy