Pregnancy-related gigantomastia. Case report

Abstract

The term gigantomastia has been used to describe breast enlargement to extreme size, with sloughing, haemorrhage and infection. The condition is rare and a case of pregnancy-related gigantomastia is reported.

Gestational Gigantomastia Complicating Pregnancy: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

“…Thus, patients presenting with gigantomastia should also be worked up for hypercalcemia, since high levels may warrant bilateral mastectomy [ 53 ]. Deranged liver function tests have also been reported and should be explored to rule out concurrent liver disease [ 54 ].…”

Gestational Macromastia: A Medical and Surgical Challenge

“…The etiology of gestational macromastia is only partially understood. Implicated factors have included first pregnancy, corpus luteum and placental hormones, human chorionic gonadotropin, increased steroid load, hyperprolactinemia, altered sensitivity to prolactin, and decreased hormone metabolism (1,5,11–20) Breast enlargement is typically observed during the first trimester and occurs in 64% of women who develop gestational macromastia (1,12). Despite the ambiguity in etiology, it is generally agreed that there is an abnormal end‐organ response to the hormones of pregnancy (2,10,13,14).…”

“…Medical therapies have included progesterone, testosterone, stilbestrol, hydrocortisone, tamoxifen, and diuretics (1,3,4,12,13). Bromocriptine appears to be the most successful first‐line medical treatment (4,9,11,13,15–17). It is a dopamine receptor agonist that is used to inhibit pituitary release of prolactin.…”