Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Accessory Breast Plasma Cell Mastitis with Traditional Chinese Medicine

Background Accessory breast plasma cell mastitis (PCM) is uncommon in clinical practice with rare reports. Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnostic methods and the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical efficacy of accessory breast PCM. Methods The clinical diagnosis and treatment data of 15 patients with accessory breast PCM admitted to Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University from January 2017 to December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively, the general information, diagnostic methods, treatment methods and outcomes of 15 cases with accessory breast PCM were summarized. Results A total of 15 female patients of childbearing age with accessory breast PCM were included in this paper, with onset within 2-5 years after pregnancy. The etiology was complex and the course of accessory breast PCM was protracted, which was similar to breast PCM in pathogenetic characteristics, using pathological examination results as gold standard for diagnosis. After the combination of internal and external treatment of TCM, the symptoms of 15 patients were relieved, local lesions disappeared, and there was no recurrence after six months of follow-up. Conclusion Accessory breast PCM is rare in clinical practice, which is easy to be misdiagnosed or missed, and difficult to be treated clinically. The combination of internal and external treatment of TCM has a significant effect on accessory breast PCM.