Original article
English
Mohamed koha 1, H abib Wershefani 1, Rabia Markus 2
1-Departement of Surgery 2- Departement of Pathology, Tripoli Medical Centre, Tripoli, Libya
JMJ 2010,Vol.10, No.1:40-43
Abstract
Objective: The worldwide incidence of neoplastic changes in clinically detectable breast lumps is about 10-20%. The aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the incidence of cancer in breast lumps presenting for excision at Tripoli Medical Centre, Tripoli, Libya. Patients and Methods: In the years 1997-2001, 733 patients with breast lumps were subjected to excisional biopsy. Excised specimens were analysed histopathologically. Results: 494 (67.4%) cases were benign, (22.6%), were malignant and 10% unclassified. The incidence of malignancy increased steadily with increasing age from 0% in the 2nd decade of life to more than 50% in the 5th decade with predominance of the histological type infiltrating ductal cancer (87.8%). Malignant lesions were predominantely infiltrating ductal cancer 122 cases (16.6% of total and 87.8% of malignant and 10% inclassified lesions). 0.95% of total and 5.7% of malignant lesions were infiltrating lobular carcinoma, the rest were medullary carcinomas, mucinous carcinomas in two cases, anaplastic carcinomas in two cases, and malignant phylloides tumours in four cases. Of benign lesions fibroadenomas and fibrocystic disease were the most common pathological types, 257 (35%) and 206 (28%) respectively, the rest accounted for miscellaneous lesions like duct ectasias, non-malignant phylloides tumours and proliferative disorders. Conclusion: There is a significantly high incidence of malignant breast lumps after the 3rd decade. It is recommended that patients in this age group should go for early excisional biopsy while is still considered the golden standard in our country especially in patients aged thirty and over.
Keywords: Breast, Cancer, Benign Disease, Fibroadenoma.
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/images/stories/spring2010/40.pdf