Infectious and Inflammatory Breast Disease

Breast inflammation can signal an array of breast conditions, from difficulties with breastfeeding to a rare and aggressive type of breast cancer. In some cases, these diseases resemble each other clinically and on imaging examinations. This article explains the inflammatory process and discusses a variety of localized benign inflammatory breast diseases, including lactational and nonlactational mastitis, ductal ectasia, idiopathic granulomatous mastitis, fat necrosis, and diabetic mastopathy. Inflammatory breast cancer also is presented, with an emphasis on its signs and symptoms, diagnosis, staging, multimodality treatment, and prognosis.