What to do if your breast ducts are dilated during lactation

What should I do if my mammary ducts are dilated during lactation? This is a question that many female friends who are breastfeeding are very concerned about. Mammary duct ectasia is not uncommon in our lives. It is also common for some mothers who are breastfeeding their babies. Mammary duct ectasia is also called plasma cell mastitis. We cannot underestimate the treatment of this disease. Let us learn about the treatment methods below.

In the early stages of this disease, it may manifest as nipple discharge, which is yellow, brown or bloody. Sometimes, thick pus-like substances may be secreted after squeezing the breast. In the later stages, lumps of varying sizes may appear on the nipple and areola. The skin on the surface of the lumps is red, swollen and tender. Sometimes, the abscess is difficult to heal after incision, and fistulas are formed. Due to repeated attacks of the disease, the breast skin may thicken and the nipple may be inverted. The disease has a long course, up to more than ten years in some cases, and antibiotic treatment is usually ineffective.

Mammary duct ectasia is particularly easy to misdiagnose before surgery. The diagnosis of this disease mainly relies on breast B-ultrasound, breast mammography, breast ductography, and breast fine needle aspiration. Once mammary duct ectasia is diagnosed, surgical treatment should be taken in a timely manner according to the different characteristics of the disease.

For localized lesions, lobectomy can be performed; for extensive lesions, subcutaneous mastectomy can be performed to preserve the patient's nipple and normal part of the gland. For those lumps accompanied by abscess formation, timely incision and drainage should be performed while anti-infection treatment is being given, and the diseased tissue should be removed after the infection improves.

Duct ectasia is also called plasma cell mastitis. Its basic pathology is a series of pathological changes caused by duct dilatation due to obstruction of the mammary ducts. It is a benign disease. This disease is more common in women aged 30-40 who have given birth but not breastfeeding, and is occasionally seen in elderly women after menopause.

The onset of mammary duct ectasia can be roughly divided into three stages: the acute stage is characterized by breast swelling, pain, redness and nodules, and there may be nipple discharge. This is most easily confused with acute mastitis, and some are misdiagnosed as inflammatory breast cancer; in the subacute stage, the breast redness and swelling subside, leaving behind a nodule or lump; in the chronic stage, the lump in the breast may adhere to the surface skin, the lump is painless, and the nipple may retract. This type is most easily misdiagnosed as breast cancer.

The course of the disease varies, from a few days to several years, and patients with a longer course are more likely to be misdiagnosed. Nipple discharge may be the first symptom of this disease. The fluid is mostly bloody, but it can also be serous or purulent, which is also a cause of misdiagnosis. In the early stage, the disease is often accompanied by enlarged, hard and tender lymph nodes below the armpit, which also makes identification difficult.

In recent years, infrared scanning, ultrasound examination and selective mammary ductography used for breast examination have been very helpful in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of breast diseases. They can not only confirm mammary duct dilatation, but also detect whether there are other space-occupying lesions in the ducts. In addition, cytological examination also plays an important role in diagnosing this disease. Including repeated examinations of nipple discharge and cytological examinations of fine needle aspiration of tumor tissue, no cancer cells were found in this disease, but inflammatory cells mainly composed of plasma cells were found, which can be distinguished from cancer.

Mammary duct ectasia is a benign breast disease, so once diagnosed, surgical treatment should be performed. Surgery is the only effective way to treat this disease. During the operation, only the dilated duct mass in the areola needs to be removed, and the nipple and most of the breast can be preserved without affecting the appearance and beauty. If the tumor is large, occupying more than half of the entire breast, and the patient is over 45 years old and has smaller breasts, a simple mastectomy can be performed with the patient's consent.

What should we do if we have mammary duct dilatation during lactation? This is a question that everyone is concerned about. I have given you a brief explanation above. I hope that after reading the above article, everyone will have some understanding of this disease and treatment measures. When you know that you have this disease, you must go to the hospital in time for further relevant examinations, cooperate with the doctor's treatment, and adjust your mentality.