One of the greatest characteristics of Medicine is that you never finish learning. It does not matter if you have years of experience because there is always new knowledge that appears and it is necessary to acquire. Sometimes it is through courses or seminars that help to get recertification. Although it can also be with the simple daily patient care. Every day is different from the others because the variety of situations that can arise is infinite but very rarely does something similar to the following clinical case happen.
Account of what happened
The peculiar situation originated in the Hospital de Santa Maria de Lisboa in Portugal. There, a 26-year-old woman who was nine months pregnant was received. She was supported throughout the process of delivering her baby. The safety and hygiene protocols necessary for Covid-19 were kept at all times.
After the delivery and while the young woman was hospitalized, the doctors noticed a peculiar smell. They did not know where it came from and that led to several tests being carried out. It was until they analyzed the mother that they identified a whitish liquid that was coming out of one of her armpits.
Probability of it happening
It was at this time that the patient was found to be suffering from polymastia. This term is used to describe the existence of more than two mammary glands in a person. According to the portal Scielo it is estimated that the incidence among the general population with this condition ranges between 0.4 and six percent.
It is an extremely rare feature that occurs when breast tissue grows ectopically along the breast ridge. When this occurs the breast ridge extends from the inside of the armpit to the pubis. Women who breastfeed through the vagina have even been documented. In either situation, it is so rare that most doctors never see a clinical case of this type.
Everything that happened in the hospital in Portugal was gathered in an article that was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. There it is indicated that the patient’s case is benign although there is a minimal risk of developing cancerous tissue.
Therefore, there is a medical team that is under review of the woman. At the moment a final determination has not been made but it is not ruled out that a future surgical intervention will be necessary to avoid possible risks.
Meanwhile the woman has only manifested a very slight pain in the affected armpit. Based on the medical literature, this discomfort should stop manifesting itself in a few months when the milk secretion also disappears.