title: Granulomatous lobular mastitis: a rare chronic inflammatory disease of the breast which can mimic breast carcinoma.
abstract: Granulomatous lobular mastitis is a rare chronic inflammatory disease of the breast. The differential diagnosis with malign breast disease is often not easy. In most cases a surgical biopsy is needed for correct diagnosis. Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis is an exclusion diagnosis, based on the demonstration of a characteristic histological pattern, combined with the exclusion of other possible causes of granulomatous breast lesions. There is still no generally accepted optimal treatment. If surgery forms part of the treatment, a conservative approach seems to be adequate in most cases. Another option is a long-term steroid treatment. It is mandatory to exclude infectious causes of granulomatous mastitis before corticoid therapy is started.
authors.affiliation: Department of Senology and Oncologic Surgery, AZ-VUB, Brussels, Belgium. guy.verfaillie@az.vub.ac.be
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Verfaillie
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Breucq
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sacre
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bourgain
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lamote
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008413:Mastitis / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged