Breast malignancies in a tertiary health setting in north-eastern Nigeria: a histopathological review

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies that occurs in women. Most of the studies done on breast cancer in our setting are epidemiological. This study aims at determining the histopathological subtypes and various features of breast malignancies seen in our setting. The bench record books of the Department of Pathology, Federal Medical Centre Gombe were used to identify all the breast cancer cases seen from May 2000 to May 2007, after which the Haematoxylin and Eosin-stained slides and request forms were retrieved. The slides were reviewed based on the 2003 WHO classification of breast tumours. One hundred and thirty four breast cancer cases were reviewed histologically. Invasive ductal carcinoma (NOS) made up 66.6% (89/134), followed by invasive lobular carcinoma which comprised 9.7% (13/134). Medullary carcinoma was seen in 6.0% (8/134). Invasive papillary and sarcomatoid carcinomas comprised 3.0% (4/134) each. Invasive ductal carcinomas were graded as follows: grade I - 12%, grade II - 22.5%, and grade III - 65%. The majority of breast cancer cases occurred in the fourth and fifth decades of life. Invasive ductal carcinoma remains the most frequent histopathological subtype and most of the patients in this environment have grade III disease.