Abstract
Background: Neoplastic breast lesions can be benign or cancerous. Particularly worrisome is the anxiety every breast lesion portends. Breast cancer presents a heavy burden on the health of the population especially among women. This study aims to study the different neoplastic breast specimen types collected in this adult population with emphasis on their biological behavior, cell type, grade and possible lymph node involvement.
Methods: This retrospective study analyzed breast lesion diagnoses from different specimen types, including lump excision, mastectomy, and trucut biopsy. All patient 20 years and above were included in this study done in River State Nigeria. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to assess statistical associations, with significance set at p < 0.05
Results: Invasive breast carcinoma was the most prevalent neoplastic lesion accounting for 41.6% of the diagnoses. Fibroadenoma followed in 37.7% of the patients. Majority (59.9%) of the cases were epithelial tumors, followed by mixed tumors with 38.5% and mesenchymal tumors with 1.5%. The mastectomy specimens were 179 cases with lymph node metastases seen in 55 of the cases. A significant association was found between diagnosis and age group (X2 = 45.53, p = 0.0345), indicating that the distribution of breast lesions varies significantly with age.
Conclusion: This shows that epithelial breast cancers are the most common neoplastic lesions in females thus emphasizing the burden of breast cancer in our population. Very few cases of ductal carcinoma insitu coupled with the fact that many of the mastectomy specimens had lymph node involvement suggest that most patients in our environment present late with the disease. Increase in breast cancer awareness should be stepped up by the government with emphasis on self-breast examination and mammography to help early detection of breast cancer
doi.org/10.63721/25JPMIDT0104
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