Saboo A, et al. - Researchers retrospectively reviewed non-lactation breast abscesses treated in Princess Alexandra Hospital over a 10-year period to assess the trends in size, risk factors, microbiological profile and management. This was the first Australian study that solely analyzed non-lactation breast abscess. There appeared a significant correlation of size with characteristic bacteriology. They recommended including both aerobic and anaerobic cover in empiric therapy. A combination of antibiotics and percutaneous aspiration could manage the majority of non-lactation breast abscesses non-operatively.

Methods

• Researchers undertook a computerized search of the medical records to assess all adult patients with a diagnosis of breast abscesses during June 2005–June 2015.
• They excluded patients concurrently breastfeeding.
• They performed a retrospectively review of the clinical records.

Results

• In 77 patients, researchers identified eighty-five abscesses.
• The median age of the patients was 45 years; 93.7% were females.
• A longer inpatient hospital stay was observed associated with smoking and diabetes mellitus.
• A significant difference was evident regarding microbiology of abscesses in relation to size.
• Findings revealed that smaller abscesses (≤3.0 cm) predominantly had mixed anaerobes (54%), whereas larger abscesses had a dominance of Staphylococcus aureus (29%) and other aerobic microbes (33%) (P < 0.05). 7% of all abscesses had methicillin-resistant S. aureus.
• They observed that flucloxacillin was prescribed solely in majority of the cases (45%) with addition of suitable mixed anaerobic cover in 12% cases.
• Of the 85 abscesses, non-operative management with antibiotics ± percutaneous drainage was performed in 58.8%.
• A shorter inpatient stay was observed with percutaneous aspiration compared with patients who underwent operative management.