Breast diseases: a histopathological analysis of 3279 cases at a tertiary care center in Pakistan

To know the frequency of breast diseases in Pakistani females.

A retrospective analysis of 3279 breast specimens received over a period of 4 years (1993-1996) at the department of pathology, the Aga Khan University Hospital.

Out of a total of 3279 breast specimens, common breast lesions included infiltrating duct carcinoma 37%, followed by fibro adenoma 16.95%, fibrocystic change 13.96%, mastitis 6.83% and duct ectasia 5.33%. Majority of the cases of infiltrating duct carcinoma were encountered in the 5th and 6th decades of life. Tumour size was 2 or >2 cms. in 93% of cases and 40% of them showed 3 or >3 positive lymph nodes. Grade I tumours were 11.38%, grade II 59.17% and grade III tumours 29.47%. Correlation of grade with lymph node metastases (3 or >3+ve nodes) showed 15 cases (1.53%) of grade I, 178 cases (18.25%) of grade II and 68 (6.97%) cases of grade III tumours.

This study shows that in Pakistani females, the most commonly encountered lesion in carcinoma of the breast followed by the benign lesions such as fibro adenoma, fibrocystic disease & others. Breast carcinoma occurs at a younger age group with predominance of high-grade lesions and with frequent lymph node metastasis.