The Role of Corticosteroids along with Other Therapies in Treating Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: A Narrative Review

The use of oral corticosteroids to treat idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) has been a point of controversy for a long time. In addition, a wide diversity of combinations with other therapies have been reported so far. This study aims to review the usage of oral corticosteroids and their combinations in the published literature.

PubMed and Scopus were searched using the key word “granulomatous mastitis.” Citations were filtered in two stages, considering the titles/abstracts and full texts. Papers reporting the treatment of IGM with corticosteroids with/without other treatments were included.

Fifty-eight citations were included in this study, 31 of which had at least a group of patients treated only with systemic corticosteroids. Combination therapy of systemic steroids with immunosuppressants, surgical interventions, and antibiotics were used in 6, 12, and 13 studies, respectively.

Considering the inconsistency of studies in reporting the severity of the disease, administered treatments, outcome of treatment, side effects, and follow-up, our study failed to provide solid evidence for using corticosteroids as the first step in the management of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis. There is still a need for further studies emphasizing the homogenization of such reports. In this regard, preparing a questionnaire to help homogenize future reports on IGM is highly recommended.