Vol. 9, Issue 4, Part B (2025)

Objectives: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is an uncommon benign disease with unclear optimal management. In our study, we aimed to compare different treatment methods and to evaluate the complete remission and recurrence rate of each group.

Methods: We searched for patients with the diagnosis of IGM between January 2013 and April 2021. Patients are classified according to treatment methods used for disease. The complete remission rate and recurrence rate between the groups are compared using the statistical software NCSS.

Results: 72 patients with IGM who had fulfilled the inclusion criteria of our study were analyzed for antibiotic treatment, oral steroids and surgical managements. 40(56%) patients had complete remission, 32(44%) patients had recurrences. Of these 40 patients who had complete remission, 28(70%) patients were treated with antibiotics, 6(15%) patients were treated with oral steroids, 6(15%) patients were treated with segmental mastectomy. 32 patients who had recurrences were treated with antibiotics (20 patients, 62%), oral steroids (7 patients, 22%), and with segmental mastectomy (5 patients, 16%). None of the patients treated with oral steroids had recurrence, 1 patient treated with segmental mastectomy had recurrence, and 9 patients treated with antibiotics had second recurrence. 5 of 9 patients who had second recurrence were treated with antibiotics, 3 of them were treated with oral steroids, and one of them was treated with segmental mastectomy. All patients achieved remission.

Conclusion: IGM is a benign inflammatory condition that gives good response to corticosteroid treatment. Segmental mastectomy also has low recurrence rate, but better remission rates are achieved with corticosteroids.