Granulomatous mastitis in a male breast: A case report and review of literature

Abstract

Granulomatous mastitis (GM) is a rare disease, particularly among men. Herein, we present a case of GM diagnosed in a 63-year-old male patient who showed reduction in the tumor size during 3 months of observation.

Chronic Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis in a Male Patient

“…5,6,12 IGM was first described in 2005 and only 17 reported cases were reported between the ages of 17-60, the median age of the patients at the time of presentation was 46 years. 1 Clinical presentation of IGM is usually unilateral, variable size, firm and ill-defined breast mass. It is often associated with local tenderness and skin inflammation like our patient with inflammatory retroareolar mass in this report.…”

“…The autoimmune response toward the extranodal lesion of lymphoma in the breast was reported in a male patient with history of previous treatment for follicular lymphoma that might be one of the probable causes of his IGM. 1 The absence of breast lobules in males may be one possible reason for rarity of male IGM. 18 Gynecomastia and estrogen stimulation can cause the development of mammary lobules in male breasts that might be associated with IGM in males.…”

“…Tapanutt Likhitmaskul, MD 1 ; Suphatcharee Aroonsiriwattana, MD 2 I diopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is an uncommon chronic inflammatory breast disease with unknown etiology in females and is exceptionally rare in male patients. 1 IGM is often mistaken for more common breast disorders, breast abscess or infectious mastitis, and can mimic inflammatory breast cancer both clinically and radiological. 2,3 Since Kessler and Wolloch 4 first described it in female patients in 1972, there have been hundreds of female cases reported worldwide.…”

“…6 In both male and female patients, IGM usually presents as a unilateral firm breast mass with inflammation of overlying skin, abscesses and fistulae. 1,5 It usually poses a complex diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma because of the unknown etiology and rarity. The final diagnosis of IGM is confirmed by histopathological tissue examination of biopsy specimens.…”