Histopathological profile of breast cancer in an African population

BACKGROUND: Currently breast cancer (BRCA) still remain the most commonly diagnosed female cancer globally with a significant geographic, racial and ethnical variations in its incidence. AIM: This article examines the frequency and histological types and grades of BRCA in a pioneer teaching Hospital in Delta State, Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: H and E stained-slides of breast biopsies diagnosed at the Central Hospital, Warri from 2005 to 2011 were archived and studied. Request forms were scrutinized for clinical bio-data, diagnosis and histological sections were analyzed. Data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 17 statistical package (SPSS) Incorporated, Chicago, Illinois, USA, and value presented descriptively. RESULTS: During this period, 905 breast lesions were seen. Out of this, 261 were BRCAs, of which 260 cases were females and one case was a male. The peak age incidence for BRCA and its variants was 40-49 years accounting for (n = 94/261; 36%). The mean age of BRCA was 46 years (6.2). Invasive carcinoma of no special type (NST) was the most commonly encountered histological group of breast carcinoma constituting (n = 203/261, 77.7%) with the high grade invasive ductal carcinoma as the leading diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Majority of BRCAs encounter was invasive ductal carcinoma of NST with bulk of patients presenting in Stages III and IV.