title: Experience of treatment of patients with granulomatous lobular mastitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present the author's experience with various treatment methods of granulomatous lobular mastitis (GLM) and to determine effective treatment methods of GLM.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty patients who were diagnosed with GLM were classified into five groups based on the initial treatment methods they underwent, which included observation (n = 8), antibiotics (n = 3), steroid (n = 13), drainage (n = 14), and surgical excision (n = 12). The treatment processes in each group were examined and their clinical characteristics, treatment processes, and results were analyzed respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Success rates with each initial treatment were observation, 87.5%; antibiotics, 33.3%; steroids, 30.8%; drainage, 28.6%; and surgical excision, 91.7%. In most cases of observation, the lesions were small and the symptoms were mild. A total of 23 patients underwent surgical excision during treatment. Surgical excision showed particularly fast recovery, high success rate (90.3%) and low recurrence rate (8.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical course of GLM is complex and the outcome of each treatment type are variable. Surgery may play an important role when a lesion is determined to be mass-forming or appears localized as an abscess pocket during breast examination or imaging study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Bucheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Mo
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hur
authors.forename: Dong Hui
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Se Kyung
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Min-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Soo Youn
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Min Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: Sangmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jun-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Jung-Han
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jee Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seok-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Jung-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jeong Eon
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Breast; Excision; Granulomatous mastitis; Treatment