Steroid refractory granulomatous mastitis treated by top surgery: A case report

Granulomatous mastitis (GM) is a rare inflammatory disease and the presentation mimics infectious mastitis or breast cancer. The disease usually develops at the unilateral breast in women with breast-feeding history at their child-bearing age. Systemic steroids had been proposed as the first-line treatment, the combination of surgery was also recommended for complicated disease. However, recurrence might still happen in some rare cases. Few studies have addressed the management of such difficult situations.

We report the case of a 33-year-old androgynous and nulliparous woman who initially presented left breast erythematous swelling and was treated as infectious mastitis with debridement and antibiotics.

After wider excision for pathology, the diagnosis of GM was confirmed.

Steroids combined with methotrexate were prescribed. However, the symptoms only subsided temporarily and progressed to the contralateral side within 3 months. She finally underwent double-incision mastectomy and free nipple grafting.

The surgery was completed uneventfully, and she had a satisfactory result with no more recurrence at the 6-month follow-up.

This GM case with the refractory treatment courses brought out the importance of surgical resection and was the first case report of treating GM with top surgery in the literature. Total mastectomy facilitated a highest complete remission rate of GM and may be advantageous for selected patients, especially in cases where steroids are intolerable.