Breast tuberculosis

Abstract

Breast tuberculosis is a rare form of tuberculosis. Of all the breast diseases treated surgically, tuberculosis is seen in the range between 0.025% and 0.1%. This ratio is higher in undeveloped countries. We presented five cases with breast tuberculosis. Their ages were between 20 and 63 years. All of them had children and were breastfeeding. The cause of admission to the hospital was swelling in four of them and pain in the remainder. All of the lesions were unilateral. One case had received antituberculosis treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis 10 years ago. AAFB was not detected in sputum, breast discharge, urine and tissue culture in all the cases. Diagnosis was made histopathologically from the excisional biopsy material. Caseating granulomatosis was also found in axillary lymph nodes in three cases. Antituberculosis therapy was planned as 2HRZE/4HR for all of the cases. Three of them completed the therapy without any complaints. One case left the hospital without permission. The last one is now undergoing resistant tuberculosis treatment for pulmonary disease without any complaint of her breast. As a conclusion, although tuberculosis of breast is extremely rare, it should be kept in mind particularly in developing and undeveloped countries. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.