[Tuberculosis of the breast. A revue of the literature in connection with a personal case (author's transl)]

Abstract

The authors, having had a personal case that they report, have carried out a general review of tuberculosis of the breast. It is a rare affection which usually attacks women during reproductive life, mainly because of the influence of hormones on the condition. Clinically it is difficult to differentiate it from cancer and it can present in two forms, a superficial and a deep one, a diffuse one and a circumscribed one. All the same, there is a definite feature which is fistula formation. The diagnosis depends on the biopsy, which shows specific histological lesions, and on the bacteriological examination, which shows the Koch's bacillus. Mammography is not very characteristic and thermography is of too recent appearance. Treatment consists in anti-tuberculous chemotherapy at first, surgery being reserved for residual lesions.