Mammography findings in a private radiological centre in south –South Nigeria - 5 year review

Abstract

Background: Globally, breast diseases especially cancers are of great health  importance due to their high morbidity and mortality. Imaging plays an important role in the management of breast disease which may present as breast lump, pain, nipple discharge, skin changes, large breast or axillary lymphadenopathy.

Objectives: To document the prevalent mammographic findings as well as BIRADS (Breast Imaging Reporting And Data System) category among patients who had undergone mammography in this private radiological centre.

Materials and method: This is a retrospective study of the 769 mammograms of all patients aged 40 years and above who presented for mammography at St. Bridget’s X-ray centre, Benin from January 1st, 2012 to December 31st, 2016. Participants aged below 40 years with a positive family history of breast cancer were also included. Data analysis was done using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software, version 21.0, Armonk, NY:IBM Corp.

Results: The study population had a mean age of 48.5 7.0 with an age range of 30 to 80 years. The 41 to 50 years age group constituted the largest group (58.1%) with the least in the 71 to 80 years age group, (1.3%), table 1. 762 (99.1%) were female and 7 (0.9%) were males. The commonest clinical indication was breast lump (41%) followed by breast pain (28.3%). The ACR (American College of Radiologists)-BIRADS 3(Heterogeneous dense fibroglandular) had the highest frequency (67.6%) while the least proportion was ACRBIRADS 4 (Extremely dense) 0.7%. 402 (52.3%) of the mammograms were normal while 367 (47.7%) showed positive findings. They are as follows irregular opacity 108 (13.6%), regular opacity 216 (27.2%), calcification  19(2.4%), dilated ducts 2(0.3%), asymmetric density 6 (0.8%) and axillary lymph node 40 (5.0%). Inconclusive study (BIRADS 0), normal study (BIRADS 1), benign findings (BIRADS 2), probably benign (BIRADS 3), suspicious finding (BIRADS 4), highly suspicious (BIRADS 5) constituted 0.8%, 52.3%, 23.3%, 9.0%, 5.2% and 9.4% respectively. No case of known breast cancer (BIRADS 6) was recorded.

Conclusion: Mammographic features of benign and malignant breast masses have been reported in this study with the prevalent positive findings being regular opacities, heterogenous dense fibroglandular breast pattern and final BIRADS category 2 (benign).

Keywords: Mammography, breast disease, south-south Nigeria.