Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: An institutional Experience from a Referral Center

Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis (IGM) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the breast. Recent studies have shown an increase in its prevalence especially in developing countries. A standard for the treatment of the disease that has not been established yet. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to review the clinical characteristics and the result of treatment at Motamed Cancer Institute (MCI).

This retrospective study was conducted on 383 women who referred to Motamed Cancer Research Institute with confirmed diagnosis of IGM from March 2015 to February 2018. The demographic and clinical characteristics and the result of treatment options were extracted from the patients’ medical records. The data was analyzed using SPSS, version 22.

Among 383 pathologically proven patients with a mean age of 35.6 ±7.593 years, 97% had the history of pregnancy and 95.2% had breastfeeding. In response to the prescribed treatments, among 241 patients with available follow-up, the most commonly used treatment was Corticosteroids (Cs) + Methotrexate (Mtx) (70.1%), where the highest complete remission was in the group receiving Cs (100%) and Mtx (97%), respectively, and the highest partial remission belonged to Cs + Mtx at 21.3%. The shortest time to complete remission was seen in Mtx group with the mean duration of 5.83 months and the highest recurrence rate was seen in the group receiving Cs alone (16.7%).

According to the results of this study, among the prescribed treatments, the highest rate of complete remission with the lowest duration and recurrence rate belonged to Methotrexate regimen. Corticosteroids were associated with a high rate of complete remission and a high rate of recurrence. Implementing clinical trials regarding the best treatment options for IGM is recommended.