Inflammatory Diseases of the Breast

Abstract

• The grouping of inflammatory breast diseases is arbitrary but usually justified by the different aetiology. • Our personal classification of inflammatory breast diseases includes lactating, non-lactating and surface (mostly skin-related) mastitis. • Most chronic inflammatory conditions can mimic malignancy. • For non-lactating women over 35 years presenting breast changes with unexplained inflammation, investigations are necessary to exclude ductal carcinoma in situ (usually peripheral) or inflammatory BC.

Future directions. Some inflammatory conditions of the breast are basically reactive so that the boundary between an abnormal and a true pathological condition may be difficult. Usually reversible and non-infectious, reactive conditions may be due to stimuli such as stasis of secretions (e.g. symptomatic mammary duct ectasia), trauma (e.g. fat necrosis) and metabolic (e.g. diabetic mastopathy) or autoimmune reactions (e.g. granulomatous lobular mastitis). Reactive changes can mimic malignancy so that it is important to identify the gross and microscopic versions in order to achieve appropriate treatment and avoid unnecessary surgery.