Mammary masses in Nigerian nuns

Abstract

Aim: To study premier parameters of mammary masses in Nigerian nuns.
Methods: A prospective study was undertaken by one of us, a nun, as regards the occurrence of breast lumps in fellow members of religious orders living among the Igbos, a populous Nigerian ethnic group. The coauthor helped in respect of both direction of the research and examination of the breast biopsies.
Results: Of the total 1017 nuns examined, 107 were found to have breast diseases of which 101 were benign and two malignant. Their ages ranged from 20 to 68 years. The commonest lesion was benign dysplasia (67%), followed by fibroadenoma (36.2%). Their respective mean ages of 33.3 ± 22.6 years and 28.1 ± 12.6 years were statistically significant. The mode of presentation was generally that of a painless lump. Nuns in Igboland are generally young, and their breast diseases commonly benign. Most of them claimed not to know about breast cancer (73.8%) while only 8.4% did regular breast self-examination.
Conclusion: Nuns constitute a subset of the population that is very suitable for confirmatory or negatory researches on the etiologic link between benign dysplasia and malignant disease of the breast.

Keywords: Breast diseases, nuns, Igboland, parameters, future research.

Journal of College of Medicine Vol. 11 (2) 2006: 73-77