Mastitis
Mastitis is an inflammatory process that grows inside the tissues of the female breast. It can manifest itself due to infection of the gland with bacteria. In turn, the breast with mastitis significantly increases and swells, it constantly hurts, and the skin on it becomes red. In addition, the woman’s temperature rises and, as a result, her well-being worsens significantly.
The content of the article:
Causes of mastitis
Criteria by which mastitis is classified
Symptoms of mastitis
Diagnosis of mastitis
Treatment of mastitis
Prevention of mastitis
Mastitis
During breastfeeding, the young mother’s immune system weakens, which is just beginning the recovery process after childbirth. The mammary glands of a woman, in this case, are also seriously vulnerable, since many new processes are carried out in them. It happens that mastitis appears suddenly, it is enough just to freeze, and, sometimes, its proliferation can be provoked after the deterioration of immunity.
Causes of mastitis
The overall prevalence of such a disease among nursing mothers ranges from one to sixteen percent. The average incidence rate is equated to five percent of nursing mothers, and in recent years, measures to reduce this figure have not yet had a significant effect. Many patients with mastitis are primiparous or breast-feeding for the first time. The development of the disease is facilitated by milk stagnation caused by improper pumping. Women after the third decade, breastfeeding is not the first time, probably can get mastitis due to the decline of the protective qualities of the body. In this case, the mastic clinic is accompanied by clinical manifestations of the main pathology.
Often mastitis can become a source of staphylococcal infection. However, if a woman’s body contains bacterial flora (for example, an infection of the respiratory system, oral cavity, urinary tract or genitals), in this case, the woman herself can provoke mastitis. It also happens that the mammary gland is infected with mastitis from E. coli. In this case, the bacteria penetrate with the bloodstream, spreading across the expanses of the milky ducts. The main reason why mastitis manifests itself lies in a long period of pathological lactostasis.
It is worth considering that mastitis development can be provoked by cracks on the nipples. Therefore, it is very important to properly prepare the nipples for the feeding process, observing all hygiene rules (clean hands and breasts), after which it is unmistakable to apply the baby to the breast (when feeding, the child must grab the nipple completely, including with the areola).
Criteria by which mastitis is classified
Acute mastitis is classified according to the following signs:
According to the pathogenesis of the disease, there is non-lactation and postpartum (that is, lactation);
Given the nature of inflammation, there are:
Non-purulent: infiltrative and serous;
Purulent: absceding-infiltrative, gangrenous, absceding, phlegmonous, gangrenous;
Based on the location of the abscess: intra,- retromammary, subcutaneous, and also subareolar;
According to the general prevalence of the disease: limited (one quadrant of the breast), diffuse (two to three quadrants), and total (four quadrants).
Symptoms of mastitis
Contrary to popular opinion, mastitis has an acute onset, as practice shows. Some doctors may claim that this disease is chronic, but this is not entirely true. Nine out of ten patients will have acute mastitis, and only one will have chronic mastitis. This disease can manifest itself 2-4 weeks after the woman has given birth. There is a sharp increase in temperature (sometimes up to thirty-nine degrees), weakness, chills and a serious headache are manifested. The problematic mammary gland causes painful sensations during palpation.
If the vector of mastitis treatment is chosen incorrectly, then after two or three days a seal will appear in the chest, which will cause pain when touched, and the skin surrounding it will turn red. In addition, other symptoms will appear: the pain at the lesion point will increase, and in those who are affected by purulent mastitis, the area of compaction acquires softening foci.
Diagnosis of mastitis
The presence of a focus of inflammation in the mammary gland can be detected by palpation. In addition, the axillary lymph nodes will increase, and the touch will hurt. In conditions of suppuration, a peculiar symptom of fluctuation will appear.
Conducting an ultrasound of the breast, you can notice the usual pattern of inflammation. If a woman has serous mastitis, then the echographic appearance of differentiation structures will smooth out, the milky ducts will become wider, and the skin with subcutaneous tissue will become thicker. The presence of an infiltrate in the mammary gland has the appearance of a well-recognized zone of reduced echogenicity, and if the infiltrate grows, it will be possible to see the so-called “honeycomb”. In addition, ultrasound examination allows you to visualize the abscess and see the necrotic zones. Ultrasound is a very precise process: the specificity and reliability of this technique reaches about ninety percent.
Due to the fact that it is very easy to detect mastitis, a woman will not need a mammogram. If there are doubts about the results of ultrasound examination, an aspiration fine needle biopsy is performed on the mammary gland. However, this should also be done under the strict control of ultrasound.
If the inflammation proceeds slowly, a lumping of the focus is formed around it — a roller of fibrous tissue is formed, after which the entire inflammatory process passes into a chronic stage. In this case, as a rule, clinical symptoms are weak, and after palpation, it is possible to identify a sedentary and dense focus fused with the skin of a woman’s breast.
Treatment of mastitis
If there is a suspicion of developing inflammation in the breast, it is imperative to seek the services of a mammologist, since it is important for the treatment course of mastitis to identify it in time and take immediate action. It is unacceptable to delay going to a specialist, as well as trying to cure everything yourself, because inflammation has one unpleasant property — it can progress, so after a while a woman risks encountering an abscess or suppuration, which a priori is a much more serious and dangerous problem.
At the stage of serous inflammation or infiltration, mastitis can be easily cured. In this case, serious antibiotics are prescribed, aimed at a wide range of actions. Basically, the infiltrate is able to resolve in a week, while the serous variant of mastitis is treated in just a few days. If there is a general intoxication on the mammary gland, then it is impossible to do without glucose infusion and electrolytic solutions. In the presence of pronounced excessive lactation, special drugs are used to prevent it soon. It is worth mentioning once again that excellent cleanliness should be observed in the area of infection, since it is during mastitis that the probability of harmful substances entering the body is very high. In addition, it is impossible to squeeze liquid out of the mammary glands. The basis is cleanliness, it is important to constantly and very carefully monitor this.
In conditions of purulent mastitis, as a rule, the situation should be trusted to the surgeon. If the abscess develops, an emergency rehabilitation of the surgeon will be prescribed, that is, a direct autopsy of the mastitis, as well as subsequent drainage of the abscess focus.
Progressive mastitis in any case puts an end to further feeding (including even if a woman has a healthy breast), because in the vast majority of cases breast milk becomes infected, which is why toxic elements that form after tissue decay begin to appear in it. In this case, breast milk can cause dysbiosis in the child, as well as a functional digestive disorder. Based on the fact that antibacterial drugs are contained in the treatment process of mastitis, feeding during the treatment of the disease will be very dangerous for the child. Thus, during medical procedures of mastitis, milk needs to be pasteurized and filtered, only then it will be suitable for the child.
Prevention of mastitis
Preventive measures during mastitis are approximately similar to the prevention of lactostasis, because, most often, it is lactostasis that is the precursor of mastitis.
In order to avoid milk stagnation, the mammary glands should be carefully emptied. This can be done thanks to regular feeding and further pumping of the remaining milk. If the baby does not have enough milk from one breast, during the next feeding it is applied first to the breast that was untouched last time. In no case do not allow the baby to suck the breast just to calm down.
One of the preventive measures of mastitis is timely therapy and diagnosis of infectious foci in a woman’s body. In general, timeliness is the best prevention of any disease, because the less time it takes to see a doctor, the easier it will be to cure the disease later. However, do not forget that taking antibiotics, it is during lactation, is strictly contraindicated.
It is very rare for men, but still you can also find mastitis. This can happen due to an imbalance of hormones in the body. In addition, mastitis can be found in those men who have undergone breast implant surgery, but such patients are found only one in a hundred people. If a man has diabetes, the risk of mastitis increases somewhat. But whatever it was, mastitis remains a predominantly female disease.
At the first signs or suspicions of the disease described above, as already noted, you should not delay going to the doctor, because the situation can turn sharply against you. First of all, it is important to understand that timely referral to a specialist is already half of the cure. The other half is prevention. By following these two simple points, you will be able to avoid any disease or, at the very least, prevent it from developing into dangerous forms.
