Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: The Great Breast Cancer Imitator

Introduction: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM), also called lobular granulomatous mastitis or granulomatous lobulitis, is a breast rare benign inflammatory disease that affects premenopausal women. This condition requires high degree of suspicious because is an uncommon disease and doesn't show specific manifestations for diagnostic. The etiology is still unknown. The MGI can clinically and radiologically mimic breast carcinoma, so it must have histopathology report of the lesion. There is no consensus of treatment.Objective: Describe the clinical and imaging features of MGI retrospectively reviewed in patients at National Cancer Institute between January 2006 and December 2010.Material and method: Forty-seven patients were evaluated with average age of 37.8 years; 29 of them (61.7%) had mammography and ultrasound, 17 (36.1%) only with ultrasound and one (2.1%) only with mammography.Results: The left breast was mainly involved, affecting just one quadrant, the upper inner (CSI). The most common mastographic feature was asymmetric density in 14 patients (47%), for ultrasound was the presence of heterogeneous images in 15 patients (33%).Conclusion: The IGM is a disease with multiples presentations, requires clinical and imagenological reviews and histopathologic corroboration for a proper diagnosis.