PERIDUCTAL MASTITIS AND DUCT ECTASIA - DIFFERENT CONDITIONS WITH DIFFERENT ETIOLOGIES

A prospective study of 14225 patients has been undertaken to determine the inter-relationship between periductal mastitis and duet ectasia a nd to establish whether there is an association between smoking and ei ther of these two conditions, Periductal mastitis affected women at a younger age than did duct ectasia, Of 139 patients with the clinical s yndrome of periductal mastitis, 97 (70 per cent) had a past history of previous periductal mastitis, compared with only one (1 per cent) of 186 patients with the clinical syndrome of duct ectasia (P < 0.0001), There was a significant excess of smokers in patients with clinically (124 (89 per cent) of 139) and pathologically (71 (91 per cent) of 78) diagnosed periductal mastitis compared with age-matched controls (bot h P < 0.001), but there was no such excess in those with clinically (5 2 (28 per cent) of 186) or pathologically (15 (23 per cent) of 64) dia gnosed duct ectasia, These data suggest that periductal mastitis and d uct ectasia are separate conditions which affect different age groups, have different aetiologies, and should now be considered as separate entities.