The chemical reactions and pathways resulting in the breakdown of lactams, any cyclic amides of amino carboxylic acids, having a 1-azacycloalkan-2-one structure, or analogues having unsaturation or heteroatoms replacing one or more carbon atoms of the ring. [ GOC:mah ]
Synonyms: cellular lactam breakdown cellular lactam catabolic process cellular lactam degradation cellular lactam catabolism