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| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 6
| Issue : 2 | Page : 121-123 |
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Clinical and pathological presentations of breast cancer among young women in North-Central Nigeria
Mojirola Ibukun Alegbejo-Olarinoye
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria
| Date of Submission | 30-May-2021 |
| Date of Decision | 15-Jul-2021 |
| Date of Acceptance | 02-Sep-2021 |
| Date of Web Publication | 29-Dec-2021 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Mojirola Ibukun Alegbejo-Olarinoye
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Abuja, Abuja
Nigeria
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/jmwa.jmwa_10_21
INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer in the young is rare. Breast cancer in young women seems to be on the rise in Nigeria. They present within the peak of reproductive years and career. They have more aggressive disease with a worse prognosis. Treatment is based on knowledge of treatment of older women. There are very scanty data on breast cancer in the young in our environment. This study aims to highlight the clinical stage of presentation and histological subtypes among women below 40.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a prospective study done over 2 years. The patients' sociodemographic data, clinical staging and histological diagnosis were noted.
RESULTS: A total of 112 cases of breast cancer were seen, out of which 58 (51.75%) cases were aged below 40 years. Forty patients (68.9%) cases had Stage IV disease, 12 (20.68%) of the cases had Stage III, five (8.62%) had Stage II and one patient had Stage I (1.72%). Out of the 40 who were Stage IV, three were pregnant in the third trimester. Histology was invasive ductal carcinoma for 48 (84.4%) cases, while nine (15.52%) were invasive lobular cancer and one was medullary carcinoma (1.72%). Hormone and immunohistochemistry showed that 30 (51.7%) were triple-negative, 22 (37.93%) were oestrogen receptor and progesterone receptor+ and six (10.34%) were human epidermal growth factor+.
CONCLUSION: More than half of the total cases of breast cancer seen within the period were young women who presented with late stage of the disease with the majority as triple-negative. Keywords: Aggressive, breast cancer, young women
How to cite this article:
Alegbejo-Olarinoye MI. Clinical and pathological presentations of breast cancer among young women in North-Central Nigeria. J Med Womens Assoc Niger 2021;6:121-3 |
How to cite this URL:
Alegbejo-Olarinoye MI. Clinical and pathological presentations of breast cancer among young women in North-Central Nigeria. J Med Womens Assoc Niger [serial online] 2021 [cited 2022 Jan 22];6:121-3. Available from: http://www.jmwan.org/text.asp?2021/6/2/121/334057 |
| Introduction | |  |
The incidence of breast cancer increases with age. Most women are diagnosed after the age of 40 years.[1] The risk factors, outcomes and tumour pathology are unique in women below 40 years, indicating that breast cancer in young women may be another clear-cut pathologic entity.[2],[3],[4],[5],[6] Treatment of these women is however based on what is done for older women.
When women are diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age, they are likely to have adverse tumour characteristics and a worse prognosis than those diagnosed at an older age.[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14]
A diagnosis of breast cancer in young women creates more burden than in the elderly.[5],[15],[16],[17]
Issues relating to fertility, raising children, sexuality, early menopause and earning a living during/after treatment are what most young women with breast cancer have to face.[18]
Treatment is expensive and only available most times in tertiary centres and not in remote areas.
In breast oncology, the term young woman varies, referring to women younger than 35–40 years. There are very scanty data on breast cancer in young women in Nigeria.
This study aims to highlight the clinical stage of presentation and histological subtypes among women below 40 years seen in the hospital.
| Patients and Methods | | |
This was a prospective study conducted at a private clinic in Abuja, North-Central Nigeria. Patients who had breast cancer and were less than 40 years were noted over a 2-year period from June 2018 to June 2020. Informed consent was taken from all participants. Details of the patient's socio-demographic data were noted. Clinical staging (based on TNM classification), histological diagnosis and immunohistochemistry were noted after trucut, incision and excision biopsies were done. A pro forma was used to obtain required data from all the study participants during the study period. The pro forma collected data on socio-demographic and disease characteristics. Data were analysed using SPSS Package Version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk,N.Y., USA) for windows. Data were expressed as frequencies and proportions with some of these presented as tables.
| Results | | |
A total of 112 cases of breast cancer were seen, of which 58 (51.75%) cases were aged below 40 years. The median age was 38 years, and the average age was 40 years.
Forty patients (68.9%) cases had Stage IV disease, 12 (20.68%) of the cases had Stage III, five (8.62%) had Stage II disease and one patient had Stage I (1.72%) [Table 1]. | Table 1: Distribution of the number of cases and stage of disease at presentation
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Out of the 40 patients who were Stage IV, three were pregnant in the third trimester.
Histology was invasive ductal carcinoma for 48 (82.75%) cases, while nine (15.53%) were invasive lobular cancer and one was medullary carcinoma (1.72%) [Table 2].
Hormone and immunohistochemistry showed 30 (51.7%) were triple-negative, 22 (37.93%) were oestrogen receptor and progesterone receptor+ and six (10.34%) were human epidermal growth factor+ [Table 3].
Patients who presented at Stages III and IV of the disease had modified radical mastectomy while those with Stages I and II had breast-conserving surgery.
| Discussion | | |
Young women with breast cancer account for 51.75% of all the female breast cancers in this study. What is noted in developed countries is 5%–10%.[19] This is very high. The reason this study has a high proportion might be because at intervals surgical outreaches were carried out free of charge in the hospital where women had their breast checked and when necessary other investigations were carried out.
68.5% of the patients came in with Stage IV breast cancer. In Nigeria, young women presenting with late breast cancer are common. This is also seen in developed countries.[19]
Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histological type, and this is similar to another study in Nigeria;[16] for immunohistochemistry, the most common was triple-negative. [Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3] shows histological types of breast cancer.
| Conclusion | | |
This study has shown a higher number of young females with breast cancer in our environment than in the developed countries and most present at advanced stages of the disease.
There needs to be creation of more awareness of the disease. Gene studies need to be available, so women can have adequate information early and carry out prophylactic measures before the disease even develops.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | | |
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[Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3]
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3]
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