Pattern of breast masses in Lagos: a private health facility review of 189 consecutive patients.

BACKGROUND

The increasing awareness concerning breast cancer has led to significant interest in breast masses in general. As a result there is considerable interest in the clinicopathologic studies of breast masses in various populations.

OBJECTIVE

To study the clinicopathologic pattern of breast masses at a private health facility in Lagos, Nigeria.

METHOD

The records of all patients who presented between January 1993 and December 2002 with breast lumps at the Lagoon Hospital Apapa were reviewed. Their biodata, clinical presentation and histopathological diagnosis were retrieved.

RESULTS

189 consecutive patients were studied comprising of 180 females and nine males. The peak age incidence for benign disease was 21-30 years while it was 31-40 years for those with malignant masses. Majority (66.1%) presented with painless solitary lumps. 46 (77.2%) patients had benign lumps while 43 (22.8%) had malignant lesions. The commonest benign lesion was fibrocystic disease (47.9%) while infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the commonest pathological diagnosis in the malignant group (83.1%).

CONCLUSION

From this study benign breast masses outnumber malignant ones by more than 3:1 in this population. The commonest pathological diagnosis was fibrocystic disease in benign lesions and infiltrating ductal carcinoma for malignant masses.