Five-year follow-up of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis

Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a benign and rare chronic inflammatory disease of the breast. Although there are various treatment modalities, an ideal treatment algorithm has not been defined.

We designed this study to evaluate the clinical status, duration of remission, remission rates, and treatment algorithm in patients with IGM during a 5-year follow-up period after immunosuppressive therapy.

This study was planned retrospectively in the rheumatology outpatient clinic including 63 patients with biopsy-proven IGM. Demographic characteristics, clinical findings, treatment options, and drug-free remission periods after treatment were obtained from the patient’s records.

The mean age of female patients with IGM was 36.4 ± 6.1 years. Remission was achieved in all patients receiving immunosuppressive treatment and the median remission period was 13.9 months. After 5 years of follow-up, the median remission time without medication was 46.1 months. There was a significant improvement in the laboratory parameters and clinical findings of the patients. The most preferred immunosuppressive agent in all patients was methotrexate, and the second was azathioprine.

During the 5-year follow-up period, no recurrence after immunosuppressive therapy was detected in IGM patients. As seen in the treatment management chart, methotrexate provided remission in the majority of patients.