Granulomatous Mastitis: A Rare Cause of Male Breast Lump

BACKGROUND: Mastitis is a common benign disorder of the female breast. It is frequently associated with tenderness, swelling and nipple discharge. We are describing an extremely rare case of an idiopathic granulomatous mastitis in the male breast. Only 1 previous case was reported. CASE REPORT: A 29-year-old male patient presented with a hard, painless lump in the right breast of 2 weeks duration. The patient underwent surgical excision with margin. The histopathologic findings were consistent with granulomatous mastitis. The case was reported as idiopathic granulomatous mastitis after exclusion of all known causes of the disease. CONCLUSION: Granulomatous mastitis is rare in females and extremely rare in male breast tissue. Since this disease mimics breast cancer in its clinical picture and radiologic findings are usually not conclusive, surgical excision is recommended in all cases.