The Pathology of Breast Biopsies in a Sample of Nigerian Patients: Review and Analysis

Abstract

Background: Histological tissue diagnosis of breast lumps plays an important role in patient management. Almost all breast pathology studies in Nigeria were conducted in government owned health facilities. This study aims to describe the histopathological pattern and of breast biopsies seen in Me Cure Healthcare Limited, a privately owned diagnostic centre.

Methods: Histopathological reports of all breast specimens received and processed from August 2009 to December 2013 were retrieved from a computer database and entered into an Excel sheet and analyzed using SPSS version 17. Histological features were classified using 2003 WHO classification of breast diseases.

Results: A total of 1205 breast specimens were reviewed. This formed 26% of 4,642 histology specimens received in the pathology laboratory. The youngest patient was 11 years and the oldest 88 years with a mean of 31.7 years and SD ±13.12. Females accounted for 97.8% with a female to male ratio of 43.4:1. The age group 20-29 years were most involved (n=362; 30%). Malignant lesions accounted for 21.3% while benign lesions accounted for 78.7%. Fibroadenoma was the commonest benign lesion and accounted for 61.7% of all benign lesions with a mean age of cases been 24,6 years. Age groups 40-49 and 30-39 years accounted for most malignant lesions (33.5% and 27.6% respectively) with invasive ductal carcinoma been the commonest.

Conclusion: Benign breast lesions are more common generally, while invasive ductal carcinoma is the commonest malignant lesion involving mainly age groups 30-49 years in our environment. Women with cancers in our environment, usually present with grades II and III lesions.

Keywords: Breast, Histopathology, Biopsy