idiopathic granulomatous mastitis: report of 3 cases and a review of the literature

absract idiopathic granulomatous mastitis is a rare, inflammatory, and benign breast disease characterized by non-caseating granulomata and microabscesses limited to breast lobules. this condition presents as a firm breast mass that is clinically and radiologically indistinguishable from breast cancer, or as multiple or recurrent abscesses, or mastitis in a young non-lactating woman. almost always, the diagnosis is made after surgical interventions to rule out other pathologies as differential diagnoses especially tuberculosis which is endemic in our country. we are going to report 3 cases of granulomatous mastitis besides a brief review of the literature. we emphatically recommend that although this entity should be kept in mind as a rare differential diagnosis, it shoud not be considered as the first one.