There is no question as to what the treatment should be the moment the diagnosis of tumor of the breast is made. The chief difficulty lies in making the diagnosis, especially in those cases in which the woman seeks an examination as soon as she feels a lump in the breast. Now that expectant mothers are periodically examined by obstetricians, there should be no delay.
Treatment can be briefly stated for the so-called caked breast most frequently observed in the first two weeks of lactation—noninterference. If the child does not nurse, the breast pump should be used and the nipples should be kept clean. For the acute abscess, an incision is made followed immediately by Carrel-Dakin irrigation; for the chronic abscess revealed by the character of the wall when the abscess is incised, excision of the wall beyond the inflammatory zone through the lactating breast is employed. When there are