Mastitis
Clinically Relevant Anatomy[edit | edit source]
Mastitis is classified as the inflammation of the breast tissue and is often categorised as non-lactational mastitis and lactational mastitis.
Non-lactational mastitis includes idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) and periductal mastitis. IGM is a benign inflammatory condition, primarily affecting women within 5 years of giving birth. This is a rare type of mastitis, often mimicking breast cancer. Alternatively, periductal mastitis affects the sub-areolar ducts, primarily in women of reproductive age.
Lactational mastitis, also known as, puerperal mastitis is the most common form of mastitis. This typically occurs due to prolonged engorgement of the milk ducts which can progress to an bacterial infection, creating an abscess. While this form of mastitis can occur at anytime during lactation, it is more common in the first 6 weeks of breastfeeding and usually decreases after 3 months.
Mechanism of Injury / Pathological Process
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Clinical symptoms[edit | edit source]
- Mastalgia or tender nipples
- widespread swelling of the affected breast or both breasts
- Flu like symptoms: body aches, sore throat, fever (oral temperature more than 38° C or 100.4 F)
- Back pain/headaches
- Red streaks on breasts
- Painful, hot lump on breast
Risk Factors[edit | edit source]
- Hyperlactation
- Cracked/sore nipples
- Infant attachment
- missed feeds/changed routine
- rapid weaning
- illness of mother or baby
- maternal malnutrition
- maternal stress or excessive fatigue
- wearing tightfitting bra restricting milk flow
- chronic medical conditions- diabetes, AIDs, chronic illness, impaired immune system
Diagnostic Procedures[edit | edit source]
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Outcome Measures[edit | edit source]
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Management / Interventions
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Differential Diagnosis
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Engorgement vs mastitis
Engorged breasts usually feel hard/tight while mastitis is often characterised by swelling/redness. while both can cause pain, pain from mastitis can worsen when the baby feeds and is described as "burning pain". Furthermore, breast engorgement won't generally cause flu like symptoms which mastitis can.
Clogged duct vs mastitis
A clogged duct is usually characterised by a "wedge-shaped" hard hot lump that appears on the breast while mastitis usually affects a larger widespread area of the breast. The pain and tenderness caused by a clogged duct is usually confined to the immediate area around the lump while in mastitis, the pain encapsulates the whole breast. Furthermore,
| Mastitis | Engorgement | Clogged ducts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lump/swelling | Widespread swelling of the breast | Widespread swelling of the breast | Localised, well defined lump |
| Pain/tenderness location | Pain/tenderness encapsulates the whole breast | ||
| Type of pain | Burning pain | ||
| Pain relieving factors | |||
| Flu like symptoms | body aches, fever |
Resources
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