Both duct widening and duct ectasia syndrome are frequently bilateral, hence systemic causes are likely involved. Diagnosis
Noninvasive methods to determine duct diameter in live patients are available only recently and it is not clear how the results should be compared with older results from biopsies. Histologically, dilation of the large duct is prominent. Duct widening with associated periductal fibrosis is frequently included in the wastebasket definition of fibrocystic disease. In plasma cell rich lesions diagnosed on core biopsies, steroid-responsive IgG4-related mastitis can be identified by IgG/IgG4 immunostaining. Duct Ectasia Syndrome
The term duct ectasia syndrome has been used to describe symptoms of nonpuerperal mastitis, possibly associated with nipple inversion and nipple discharge. In some contexts, it was used to describe a particular form of nonpuerperal mastitis coincident with fibrocystic disease, frequently involving pasty (coloured) nipple discharge, nipple retraction, retroareolar abscess and blue dome cysts. Abscessation is not very frequent but by some definitions recurrent subareolar abscess is merely a variant of duct ectasia syndrome - abscessation would be obviously more frequent with this definition. Duct ectasia syndrome has been associated with histopathological findings that are distinct from a simple duct widening. In addition to nonspecific duct widening the myoepithelial cell layer is atrophic, missing or replaced by fibrous tissue. The original cuboidal epithelial layer may be also severely impaired or missing. Characteristic calcifications are often visible on mammographic images. Periductal mastitis, comedo mastitis, secretory disease of the breast, plasma cell mastitis and mastitis obliterans are sometimes considered special cases or synonyms of duct ectasia syndrome.
Prognosis
The condition is usually self-limiting, and thus not indicated for surgery. Terminology
The term has several meanings on histological and symptomatic levels and on both levels usage overlaps with mastalgia, fibrocystic disease and specific sub- or superclasses of nonpuerperal mastitis. While this is not ideal for a definition it results from actual usage in international literature. Because research literature regarding duct ectasia is anything but abundant it is probably easiest to determine the exact meaning(s) intended by the respective authors on a case-by-case basis and this section can offer only a few hints. Typical usage in North America is a synonym of nonpuerperal mastitis, including the special cases of granulomatous mastitis, comedo mastitis, subareolar abscess with or without squamous metaplasia of lactiferous ducts and fistulation.Simple duct widening should be carefully distinguished from more complex histological changes. References


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