Profile of patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis presenting to a university teaching hospital in UAE: A case series

Objective: To highlight the profile of five patients diagnosed as having idiopathic granulomatous mastitis by histopathological examination. Materials and Methods: This presentation is a case series of patients, diagnosed as idiopathic granulomatous mastitis by histopathological examination of excised specimens. The total number of cases included in the report was five females over a 4-year period from 2005 to 2009. Results: The mean age of the patients was 29.6 years and the duration of symptoms varied from 3 weeks to 4 months. All the patients presented with a palpable mass in the breast, and two patients had associated pain and one had a bloody nipple discharge. The average size of the excised mass was 3.8 × 3.1 cm. Four out of the five patients diagnosed to have breast abscess or segmental mastitis had taken a course of antibiotics. One patient had a persistent wound sinus which subsided with ATT and the rest of the patients had no post-operative complications. Conclusion: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis is a relatively rare disease which mimics the common breast disorders in the reproductive age group including malignancy.