Inflammatory lesions of breast: a case series

Introduction: Inflammatory pathology accounts for 5-10% cases of benign breast lumps. FNAC is a quick, cheap and diagnostic procedure for inflammatory breast lesions. It helps in differentiating between benign and malignant lesions. The common etiologies causing inflammatory lesions are mastitis, abscess, fat necrosis, duct ectasia, mammary tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, idiopathic granulamatous mastitis and parasitic lesions. Material and Methods: A retrospective study of 114 cases was done. Cytological and histological correlation was seen in 47 cases. Prior to FNAC, clinical history and physical examination were also correlated. Observations: All the patients were females with an age incidence varying from 11 to 60 years. Maximum number of cases seen was of breast abscess. The aspirations revealed blood mixed pus like material, 6 of the pus culture were positive for Gram positive bacteria and rest were non significant due to start of antibiotic therapy. Next to this galactocele was diagnosed with 25 cases. Granulomatous mastitis was the next important FNAC finding leading to inflammation. Fine needle aspiration cytology of about 16 granulomatous lesions have been reported out of which 8 were diagnosed as tubercular. After granulomatous mastitis fat necrosis was other important etiology with 15 cases. Parasitic lesions were also diagnosed in 8 cases, six showed microfilaria. Conclusion: Breast FNAC provides important information regarding type of inflammatory process in breast lesions and hence, prevents unnecessary use of invasive techniques like biopsy etc. FNAC being easy and rapid method for diagnosing inflammatory lesions of breast should be done in patients presenting with breast lump.