Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis: Long-discussed but yet-to-be-known

作者：Fereshte Sheybani, HamidReza Naderi, Masoumeh Gharib, MohammadReza Sarvghad, Zahra Mirfeizi · 发表于：Autoimmunity · 年份：2016 · DOI：10.3109/08916934.2016.1138221 · 被引用次数：82 · 研究领域：Breast Lesions and Carcinomas、Cancer and Skin Lesions、Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disorders

Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a chronic benign inflammatory disease of the breast with unknown etiology. It is an important diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, as most patients were initially misdiagnosed by their primary care physicians, leading to diagnostic confusion and heightened anxiety. Although several triggers have been proposed for development of IGM, the etiologic association of neither of them has been documented. Three main hypotheses about the possible causes of IGM have been suggested, including autoimmune response, infectious disease, and hormonal disruption. Here, we discuss a hypothetical perspective of IGM to explain the possible role of autoinflammation in the pathogenesis of the disease. We also reviewed the previously published literature on pathogenesis of IGM.