There is very little awareness of the general physicians and surgeons about the benign breast conditions such as duct ectasia (DE) and periductal mastitis (PDM) causing nipple discharge. Not only that these benign breast diseases ring a false alarm of cancer, they are also the second most common cause of benign breast diseases. The objective was to study the clinical and microbiological profiles of duct ectasia and periductal mastitis in Indian women for better understanding of the disease process, in order to be able to treat them well. Forty-one consecutive patients presenting to the Surgical Out-Patient Department with non-bloody nipple discharge with clinical and radiological features suggestive of DE or PDM were included. Microbial culture and cytopathological study of the nipple discharge were done. Histopathological studies and culture of the ductal tissue taken intraoperatively were carried out. There is no significant difference in the age distribution among women with DE and PDM. Smoking is not associated with DE and PDM of Indian patients in contrast to the Western literature evidence. Infective etiology was present in nearly 46 % of the patients in the study population more so in the periductal mastitis cases. The most common isolated pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, unlike in Western population where nearly 50 % were anaerobes. Since the isolated organisms were resistant to the routinely used antibiotics in high proportion of cases, culture and sensitivity should be done in all possible cases for appropriately treating the subareolar sepsis before proceeding with the definitive treatment in the form of duct excision.

IntroductionDuct ectasia (DE) and periductal mastitis (PDM) are the most common benign breast conditions seen in women. The etiopathogenesis of these entities is still not clear and most of the theories regarding the causation are based on the histological features as seen on light microscopy. The ultramicroscopic features associated with these conditions that may give more insight to the etiopathogenesis are unknown.AimTo study the ultrastructural changes occurring in mammary duct cones in patients with DE and PDM using Transmission Electron Microscopic (TEM).MethodMajor ducts removed by radical duct excision from 21 patients with final histopathological diagnosis of DE and PDM were subjected to TEM study with 2 normal duct samples as controls.ResultsThe TEM features of DE were denudation of the epithelial cells with focal loss of microvilli, widening of the inter-epithelial junctions with focal disruption of the T bars, periductal collagenisation without inflammation, and features suggestive of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). PDM features are intact epithelial lining with proliferative epithelium and periductal collagenisation with inflammation.ConclusionsBased on the TEM findings, we suggest that DE and PDM are two different entities. EMT a novel finding observed in DE in this study.

Background In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Society of Breast Surgeons and American College of Radiology released a joint statement recommending that all breast screening studies be postponed effective March 26, 2020. Study Design A retrospective review of all canceled mammograms at a single tertiary care institution from January 1-August 31, 2020 was performed to evaluate the effect of this recommendation by quantifying both the number and reason for mammogram cancellations before and after March 26, 2020. Utilization of the electronic patient portal for appointment cancellation as a surrogate for telehealth uptake was noted. Results During the study period, 5340 mammogram appointments were kept and 2784 mammogram appointments were canceled. From a baseline of 30 (10.8%) canceled mammograms in January, cancellations peaked in March (576, 20.6%) and gradually decreased to a low in August (197, 7%). Reasons for cancellations varied significantly by month ( P < .0001) and included COVID-19 related (236, 8.5%), unspecified patient reasons (1,210, 43.5%), administrative issues (147, 5.3%), provider requests (46, 1.7%), sooner appointments available (31, 1.1%), and reasons not given (486, 17.5%). In addition, compared to a baseline in January (51, 16.5%), electronic patient portal access peaked in August (67, 34.0%). Conclusion Screening mammogram cancellations have gradually recovered after early COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and increasing use of electronic patient access appears to be sustained. Consequences for future staging at the time of diagnosis remain unknown. Understanding to what extent the pandemic affected screening may help surgeons plan for post-pandemic breast cancer care.

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