Did you know that mastitis can also occur during the non-lactation period?

A mother in her 30s, who breastfed her baby for nearly 10 months 5 years ago. In the past 3 months, the entire left breast continued to grow larger and uncomfortable with slight pain, and anemia, low back pain and bilateral calf edema appeared and became serious. She sought medical treatment everywhere but saw no improvement. She had no family history of breast cancer, did not use estrogen drugs, had no breast trauma, and no systemic diseases were found. Finally, a tissue biopsy confirmed that it was idiopathic granulomatous mastitis. After minimally invasive drainage surgery combined with anti-inflammatory drug treatment, the patient responded well, the breast mass completely subsided, anemia and other clinical discomforts were all improved, and she recovered.

Mastitis is common in lactating women, but it can also occur in non-lactating women. Clinically, symptoms include redness, swelling, heat, pain, and hard lumps in the breast, which may be accompanied by fever and general weakness.

The main cause is insufficient cleaning of breast milk during feeding or improper handling of mammary gland blockage, which causes tissue damage and then leads to bacterial infection. Dietary factors or prolonged feeding intervals causing thick milk congestion can also cause mastitis.

Simple breast obstruction can usually be improved with continued breastfeeding combined with physical therapy such as hot and cold compresses and massage. However, if the disease progresses to suppurative mastitis, antibiotics must be used under the guidance of clinical physicians. If necessary, repeated abscess drainage or incision and drainage surgery will be performed to cure the disease. This woman suffers from a self-limiting inflammatory disease, which means that the disease will stop automatically after developing to a certain extent and gradually recover. The clinical manifestations are breast abscesses that resemble malignant tumors, and they often develop into inflammatory breast masses within weeks to months. The correct diagnosis must be based on tissue biopsy.

Corticosteroid anti-inflammatory treatment is the main way to treat the disease, and surgical excision is only used to drain the abscess and remove the remaining lesions to provide definitive treatment and reduce the risk of recurrence. This case reminds the public that when faced with mastitis that cannot be improved, consult a specialist and, if necessary, perform an invasive breast examination to confirm the cause and effectively cure the disease.