Continuous postoperative negative pressure irrigation assisted mammaplasty in treating chronic refractory plasma cell mastitis

BackgroundChronic refractory plasma cell mastitis (CRPCM) is an aseptic inflammation of the breast with a chronic course of the disease, extended treatment cycle (months to years), with a high recurrence rate. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of continuous postoperative negative pressure irrigation assisted mammaplasty (CPNPIAM) in treating CRPCM.MethodsBetween 2016 and 2018, 36 CRPCM patients receiving CPNPIAM were enrolled in this study. CPNPIAM mainly involved complete lesion removal, immediate breast mammaplasty, and continuous postoperative negative pressure irrigation. The age of the patients, local symptoms, history of treatment, the duration of the disease before surgery, hospitalization period, related risk factors, the success rate, the recurrence rate and patients' overall satisfaction ratings were analyzed in the article.ResultsPatients were aged between 22 and 53 years (mean 34.64 years). All patients had a history of conservative treatment or simple drainage. Local symptoms included inflammatory mass (n=36, 100%), abscess (n=33, 92%), nipple discharge (n=7, 19%), inflammatory plaque (n=34, 94%), and sinus tract formation (n=19, 53%). The lesion sizes ranged from 3 to 10 cm (mean 5.13 cm) in diameter. The mean hospitalization period was 8.42 days. The success rate was 100% (36/36) and the recurrence rate was 0% (0/36) at a 3-month follow-up. The patients' overall satisfaction ratings were "very good" (n=22, 61%), "good" (n=12, 33%), and "moderate" (n=2, 6%) with no poor or unsatisfactory ratings.ConclusionsCPNPIAM is an effective way of treating CRPCM, and showed a high success rate, a low recurrence rate, and high patient satisfaction.