Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

mastitis

 
Medical Encyclopedia: Mastitis
Home > Library > Health > Medical Encyclopedia

Definition

Mastitis is an infection of the breast. It usually only occurs in women who are breastfeeding their babies.

Description

Breastfeeding is the act of allowing a baby to suckle at the breast, in order to drink the mother's milk. In the process, unaccustomed to the vigorous pull and tug of the infant's suck, the nipples may become sore, cracked, or slightly abraded. This creates a tiny opening in the breast, through which bacteria can enter. The presence of milk, with high sugar content, gives the bacteria an excellent source of nutrition. Under these conditions, the bacteria are able to multiply, until they are plentiful enough to cause an infection within the breast.

Mastitis usually begins more than two to four weeks after delivery of the baby. It is a relatively uncommon complication of breastfeeding mothers, occurring in only approximately 2% of women.

— Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD


Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Dictionary: mas·ti·tis   (mă-stī'tĭs) pronunciation
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n.
Inflammation of the breast or udder.

mastitic mas·tit'ic (-tĭt'ĭk) adj.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: mastitis
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Inflammation of the breast. Acute mastitis, usually caused by bacteria, begins almost exclusively in the first three weeks of nursing and can be cured with antibiotics without stopping nursing. The breasts may become swollen, red, hard, and tender; without treatment abscesses may occur. Mastitis can be localized or widespread, and the breast's lymphatic system may be involved. Girls may have brief hormone-induced breast inflammation soon after birth and during puberty. Chronic mastitis usually occurs in systemic diseases (e.g., tuberculosis, syphilis). One rare type is seen mostly in older women with a history of difficult nursing. Some mastitis cases resemble certain cancers.

For more information on mastitis, visit Britannica.com.

Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Mastitis
Top
Home > Library > Science > Sci-Tech Encyclopedia

Inflammation of the mammary gland. This condition is most frequently caused by infection of the gland with bacteria that are pathogenic for this organ. It has been described in humans, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and rabbits. Mastitis causes lactating women to experience pain when nursing the child, it damages mammary tissue, and the formation of scar tissue in the breast may cause disfigurement.

The mammary gland is composed of a teat and a glandular portion. The gland has defensive mechanisms to prevent and overcome infection with bacteria. Nonspecific defense mechanisms include teat duct keratin, lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, and complement. Specific defense mechanisms are mediated by antibodies and include opsonization, direct lysis of pathogens, and toxin neutralization. Milk contains epithelial cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes. To induce mastitis, a pathogen must first pass through the teat duct to enter the gland, survive the bacteriostatic and bactericidal mechanisms, and multiply. Bacteria possess virulence factors such as capsules and toxins which enable them to withstand these protective mechanisms. See also Lactation.

When bacteria multiply within the gland, there is a release of inflammatory mediators and an influx of neutrophils. The severity of mammary infection is classified according to the clinical signs. In humans, infection occurs during lactation, with clinical episodes most frequent during the first 2 months of lactation. In acute puerperal mastitis the tissue becomes hot, swollen, red, and painful, and a fever may be present. In the absence of treatment, this may progress to a pus-forming mastitis, with the development of breast abscesses.

In acute puerperal mastitis of humans, suitable antibiotics are administered by the intravenous or intramuscular route, while in the abscess form surgical drainage is provided in addition to antibacterial therapy. Penicillins, cephalosporins, and ery-thromycin are administered locally into the infected gland after milking for 1–2 days. Additional antibiotics are given systemi-cally, that is, intravenously or intramuscularly, in severe cases of mastitis, and also to improve bacteriologic cure rates. See also Antibiotic.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: mastitis
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
mastitis (măstī'tĭs), inflammation of the breast. Mastitis most commonly occurs in nursing mothers between the first and third weeks after childbirth, usually of the first child. It is an infection that results when bacteria enter through cracked nipples; the organisms may already be in the body and attack breast tissue weakened by injury. The breast becomes swollen and painful and a high fever may be present. Mastitis is usually easily treated with antibiotics. In severe cases, when an abscess forms within the breast, the suckling baby must be weaned completely. Chronic cystic mastitis is a common, noninfectious but often painful condition in women between 30 and 50 years old, in which cystic nodules develop in the breasts, giving them a lumpy appearance. It sometimes results from a hormonal imbalance. Biopsy may be necessary to distinguish the condition from breast cancer. Another type of mastitis may occur during puberty, and another is associated with other infectious diseases, e.g., mumps and tuberculosis.

Veterinary Dictionary: mastitic
Top
Home > Library > Animal Life > Veterinary Dictionary

Emanating from or pertaining to mastitis.

Wikipedia: Mastitis
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
See also: Mastitis (domestic animals)
Mastitis
Classification and external resources
ICD-10 N61.
ICD-9 611.0
DiseasesDB 7861
MedlinePlus 001490
MeSH D008413

Mastitis is the inflammation of breast tissue.[1] S. aureus is the most common etiological organism responsible, but S. epidermidis and streptococci are occasionally isolated as well.[2]

Contents

Terminology

Popular usage of the term mastitis varies by geographic region. Outside the US it is commonly used for puerperal and nonpuerperal cases, in the US the term nonpuerperal mastitis is rarely used and alternative names such as duct ectasia, subareolar abscess and plasma cell mastitis are more frequently used.

Chronic cystic mastitis is a different (older) name for fibrocystic disease.

American usage: mastitis usually refers to puerperal (occurring to breastfeeding mothers) mastitis with symptoms of systemic infection. Lighter cases of puerperal mastitis are often called breast engorgement.

In this wikipedia article mastitis is used in the original sense of the definition as inflammation of the breast with additional qualifiers where appropriate.

Types

It is called puerperal mastitis when it occurs in lactating mothers and non-puerperal otherwise. Mastitis can occur in men, albeit rarely. Inflammatory breast cancer has symptoms very similar to mastitis and must be ruled out.

The popular misconception that mastitis in humans is an infection is highly misleading and in many cases incorrect. Infections play only a minor role in the pathogenesis of both puerperal and nonpuerperal mastitis in humans and many cases of mastitis are completely aseptic under normal hygienic conditions. Infection as primary cause of mastitis is presumed to be more prevalent in veterinary mastitis and poor hygienic conditions.

The symptoms are similar for puerperal and nonpuerperal mastitis but predisposing factors and treatment can be very different.

Puerperal mastitis

Puerperal mastitis is the inflammation of breast in connection with pregnancy, breastfeeding or weaning. It is caused by blocked milk ducts or milk excess. It is relatively common, estimates range depending on methodology between 5-33%. However only about 0.4-0.5% of breastfeeding mothers develop an abscess.

Serous exudate from bovine udder in E. coli mastitis at left. Normal milk at right.

Nonpuerperal mastitis

The term nonpuerperal mastitis describes inflammatory lesions of the breast occurring unrelated to pregnancy and breastfeeding. This article includes description of mastitis as well as various kinds of mammary abscesses. Skin related conditions like dermatitis and foliculitis are a separate entity.

Names for non-puerperal mastitis are not used very consistently and include Mastitis, Subareolar Abscess, Duct Ectasia, Periductal Inflammation, Zuska's Disease and others.

Breast cancer and mastitis

Breast cancer may coincide with or mimic symptoms of mastitis. Only full resolution of symptoms and careful examination are sufficient to exclude the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Lifetime risk for breast cancer is significantly reduced for women who were pregnant and breastfeeding. Mastitis episodes do not appear to influence lifetime risk of breast cancer.

Mastitis does however cause great difficulties in diagnosis of breast cancer and delayed diagnosis and treatment can result in worse outcome.

Breast cancer may coincide with mastitis or develop shortly afterwards. All suspicious symptoms that do not completely disappear within 5 weeks must be investigated.

Breast cancer incidence during pregnancy and lactation is assumed to be the same as in controls. Course and prognosis are also very similar to age matched controls.[3][4] However diagnosis during lactation is particularly problematic, often leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment.

Some data suggests that noninflammatory breast cancer incidence is increased within a year following episodes of nonpuerperal mastitis and special care is required for followup cancer prevention screening.[5] So far only data from short term observation is available and total risk increase can not be judged. Because of the very short time between presentation of mastitis and breast cancer in this study it is considered very unlikely that the inflammation had any substantial role in carcinogenesis, rather it would appear that some precancerous lesions may increase the risk of inflammation (hyperplasia causing duct obstruction, hypersensitivity to cytokines or hormones) or the lesions may have common predisposing factors.

A very serious type of breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer presents with similar symptoms as mastitis (both puerperal and nonpuerperal). It is the most aggressive type of breast cancer with the highest mortality rate. The inflammatory phenotype of IBC is thought to be mostly caused by invasion and blocking of dermal lymphatics, however it was recently shown that NF kappaB target genes activation may significantly contribute to the inflammatory phenotype. Case reports show that inflammatory breast cancer symptoms can flare up following injury or inflammation making it even more likely to be mistaken for mastitis. Symptoms are also known to partially respond to progesterone and antibiotics, reaction to other common medications can not be ruled out at this point.[6][7][8][9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ mastitis at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  2. ^ http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/781116-overview
  3. ^ Middleton LP, Amin M, Gwyn K, Theriault R, Sahin A (2003). "Breast carcinoma in pregnant women: assessment of clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical features". Cancer 98 (5): 1055–60. doi:10.1002/cncr.11614. PMID 12942575. 
  4. ^ Shousha S (2000). "Breast carcinoma presenting during or shortly after pregnancy and lactation". Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 124 (7): 1053–60. PMID 10888783. 
  5. ^ Peters F, Kiesslich A, Pahnke V (2002). "Coincidence of nonpuerperal mastitis and noninflammatory breast cancer". Eur. J. Obstet. Gynecol. Reprod. Biol. 105 (1): 59–63. doi:10.1016/S0301-2115(02)00109-4. PMID 12270566. 
  6. ^ Kusama M, Koyanagi Y, Sekine M, et al. (1994). "[A case of inflammatory breast cancer successfully treated with 5'-DFUR and MPA]" (in Japanese). Gan To Kagaku Ryoho 21 (12): 2049–52. PMID 8085857. 
  7. ^ Yamada T, Okazaki M, Okazaki A, et al. (1992). "[A case of inflammatory breast cancer treated with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in combination with intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy]" (in Japanese). Gan To Kagaku Ryoho 19 (11): 1923–5. PMID 1387777. 
  8. ^ Van Laere SJ, Van der Auwera I, Van den Eynden GG, et al. (2006). "Nuclear factor-kappaB signature of inflammatory breast cancer by cDNA microarray validated by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and nuclear factor-kappaB DNA-binding". Clin. Cancer Res. 12 (11 Pt 1): 3249–56. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-05-2800. PMID 16740744. 
  9. ^ Van Laere SJ, Van der Auwera I, Van den Eynden GG, et al. (2007). "NF-kappaB activation in inflammatory breast cancer is associated with oestrogen receptor downregulation, secondary to EGFR and/or ErbB2 overexpression and MAPK hyperactivation". Br. J. Cancer 97 (5): 659–69. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603906. PMID 17700572. 
  10. ^ van der Burg B, van der Saag PT (1996). "Nuclear factor-kappa-B/steroid hormone receptor interactions as a functional basis of anti-inflammatory action of steroids in reproductive organs". Mol. Hum. Reprod. 2 (6): 433–8. PMID 9238713. 

External links

v • d • e
Disorders of breast (N60-N64, 610-611)
Female
Mastitis
Other
Male
breast navs: anat/physio, noncongen/congenital/neoplasia, proc
v • d • e
Inflammation
Acute
Chronic
Processes
Specific types

female: Oophoritis · Salpingitis · Endometritis · Parametritis · Cervicitis · Vaginitis · Vulvitis · Mastitis

male: Orchitis · Epididymitis · Prostatitis · Balanitis · Balanoposthitis

pregnancy/newborn: Chorioamnionitis · Omphalitis

File:Http://64.143.176.9/library/healthguide/en-us/images/media/medical/hw/h9991399 002.jpg


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Medical Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mastitis".  Read more