OBJECTIVE: To probe into the efficacy of dexamethasone combined with metronidazole in the treatment of ductal ectasia of breast and its effect on interleukin-10（ IL-10） and interleukin-17（ IL-17）. METHODS: Totally 232 patients with ductal ectasia of breast admitted into the Third Hospital of Xi’an from 2019 to 2020 were selected and divided into combined treatment group（ given dexamethasone combined with metronidazole for treatment

116 cases） and single drug group（ treated with metronidazole alone

116 cases） via random number table. The clinical efficacy

IL-10 and IL-17 levels

the change values（ ΔIL-10 and ΔIL-17） compared with those before and after treatment in patients in combined treatment group and single drug group were compared. RESULTS: The total effective rate of combined treatment group was significantly higher than that of the single drug group[92. 2%（ 107/116） compared with 76. 7%（ 89/116）

χ

2

= 10. 653

P = 0. 001]. After treatment

the IL-10（ t = 2. 364

P = 0. 020） and ΔIL-10（ t = 3. 641

P

<

0. 001）levels of combined treatment group were significantly higher than those of the single drug group

while the IL-17（ t =3. 821

P

<

0. 001） and ΔIL-17（ t = 2. 416

P = 0. 017） levels were significantly lower than the single-agent group

with statistically significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: dexamethasone combined with metronidazole can significantly improve the clinical efficacy in the treatment of ductal ectasia of breast.