Tuberculosis of the breast

The case histories of five women patients with mammary tuberculosis are described. All were treated by surgical excision of the lesion followed by antituberculosis chemotherapy. Recovery was uncomplicated in four of the patients but the fifth had a recurrence after 6 months for which a second operation was required. Tuberculosis of the breast is rarely diagnosed by clinical methods alone. The main problem is to distinguish it from pyogenic abscess in young women and from mammary carcinoma in older women. Surgical excision is often needed to prove the diagnosis. All patients should be given a standard course of chemotherapy but the value of surgery in the treatment of this disease has yet to be assessed.