Clinical, Histopathological, Imaging, and Treatment Perspectives of Inflammatory Granulomatous Mastitis: Review of the Literature

Inflammatory granulomatous mastitis is a benign inflammatory disease of the breast mostly presenting in puerperal women. The disease is characterized by recurrent bouts of mastitis with clinical picture of hyperemia, breast mass, and swelling of the breast with or without purulent discharge depending on the severity of the underlying inflammatory process. Although no true prevalence and incidence have been reported in the literature, there are several reported studies setting forth a predilection in specific ethnic groups and/ or geographical areas. Due to the intricate nature of the disease, quite often inflammatory granulomatous mastitis may be mistaken for malignant processes of the breast and even so, there are no pathognomonic imaging appearances to differentiate one from another. The histopathological analysis is a definite way of diagnosis. In this article, we review the imaging manifestations and clinical and histopathological findings along with current trends of available treatment options in the literature and briefly discussed our institutional perspective regarding grading of inflammatory granulomatous mastitis based on ultrasonographic appearances.