Bilateral Tubercular Mastitis - Case Reports

Breast tuberculosis is a rare form of tuberculosis. Moreover the disease is often overlooked and misdiagnosed as carcinoma or pyogenic abscess. Reports on breast tuberculosis have been few; reported incidence of breast tuberculosis amongst the total number of mammary conditions varies between 0.1 and 4 percent. Bilateral involvement is still more uncommon (3%). Here we report 3 cases of adult female ranging from 27 to 35 years who presented with 1 to 4 months history of firm lumps in both breasts and no axillary lymphadenopathy. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of breast lump in all 3 cases were done but in 1 case showed evidence of tubercular mastitis and other 2 cases findings were inconclusive. Subsequent Excisional Biopsy of those 2 cases showed features of tuberculosis. All 3 were prescribed with four drug anti-tubercular treatments continued for 12 months in 2 cases and 9 months in other case depending upon their response. The lumps disappeared and ulcer healed after anti-tubercular treatment.