Tuberculosis of the breast: report of 4 clinical cases and literature review

ABSTRACT

Nearly 18% of tuberculosis [TB] cases have only extrapulmonary manifestations. Breast tuberculosis is a rare type of extrapulmonary TB. This paper reports 4 cases of breast TB confirmed either pathologically or mycobacteriologically or both. These reports showed that TB should always be considered first in the differential diagnosis of granulomatous mastitis in TB-endemic areas. Therapy included at least 6 months of anti-TB medication and surgery when indicated