@article{10.11648/j.cmr.20221102.12,
  author = {Sani Ali Samuel},
  title = {A Review of Pattern of Presentation, Morbidity, and Mortality of Breast Cancer at a New Teaching Hospital in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria},
  journal = {Clinical Medicine Research},
  volume = {11},
  number = {2},
  pages = {20-27},
  doi = {10.11648/j.cmr.20221102.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20221102.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cmr.20221102.12},
  abstract = {Introduction: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women in Nigeria. The incidence has been increasing steadily, particularly in younger women. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study of the pattern of presentation, morbidity, and mortality of consecutive patients with breast cancer at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. A hundred (100) eligible patients’ records from the cancer registry, between 1st January 2014 and 31st December 2019 - A 5 year period, were reviewed. Result: The patients were mostly married women with a higher level of education and a mean age of 44.46±10. 81 years. The commonest presenting symptom was a painless breast lump (93.0%). Others are painful breast lump (1.0%), breast ulceration (2.0%), swelling in the axilla (2.0%) and unproductive cough (2.0%), respectively. The left breast is most frequently affected by breast cancer (50.0%), followed by the right breast (44.0%), while bilateral disease accounted for 6.0%. The upper outer quadrant of the breast accounted for 60.0% of cases. The frequency distribution of menopausal status is pre-menopausal (57.0%), menopausal (28.0%), post-menopausal (14.0%) and andropause (1.0%). Twenty-nine percent (29.0%) of patients presented with symptoms of one (1) year duration, while twenty-four percent (24.0%) had a duration of the symptom of six (6) months. Invariably fifty-three percent (53.0%) of the patients had symptoms between 6 months-1 year before presentation to the hospital. The majority (91.0%) of the patients presented with late disease. In this study pleural effusion is the commonest form of morbidity (44.0%) among patients with breast cancer. The mortality rate is 26.0%, though significantly high, only reflected death that occurred within the hospital which might be a far cry from the overall mortality in five (5) years because a significant number of the terminally ill patients preferred to die at home or in proximity to family members. Conclusion: The majority of the patients were young premenopausal women with advanced breast cancer at the time of presentation. Delayed presentation is responsible for the dismal outlook of breast cancer care in Nigeria. The reasons for delays are protean, however, the importance of early presentation to curbing the scourge of breast cancer cannot be overemphasized. Early diagnosis is crucial to the management and outcome of breast cancer, thus there is an urgent need to establish national breast cancer screening programs to facilitate early diagnosis and mitigate its morbidity and mortality, by healthcare policymakers in the country.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Review of Pattern of Presentation, Morbidity, and Mortality of Breast Cancer at a New Teaching Hospital in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria
AU  - Sani Ali Samuel
Y1  - 2022/04/14
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20221102.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.cmr.20221102.12
T2  - Clinical Medicine Research
JF  - Clinical Medicine Research
JO  - Clinical Medicine Research
SP  - 20
EP  - 27
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-9057
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.20221102.12
AB  - Introduction: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women in Nigeria. The incidence has been increasing steadily, particularly in younger women. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study of the pattern of presentation, morbidity, and mortality of consecutive patients with breast cancer at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. A hundred (100) eligible patients’ records from the cancer registry, between 1st January 2014 and 31st December 2019 - A 5 year period, were reviewed. Result: The patients were mostly married women with a higher level of education and a mean age of 44.46±10. 81 years. The commonest presenting symptom was a painless breast lump (93.0%). Others are painful breast lump (1.0%), breast ulceration (2.0%), swelling in the axilla (2.0%) and unproductive cough (2.0%), respectively. The left breast is most frequently affected by breast cancer (50.0%), followed by the right breast (44.0%), while bilateral disease accounted for 6.0%. The upper outer quadrant of the breast accounted for 60.0% of cases. The frequency distribution of menopausal status is pre-menopausal (57.0%), menopausal (28.0%), post-menopausal (14.0%) and andropause (1.0%). Twenty-nine percent (29.0%) of patients presented with symptoms of one (1) year duration, while twenty-four percent (24.0%) had a duration of the symptom of six (6) months. Invariably fifty-three percent (53.0%) of the patients had symptoms between 6 months-1 year before presentation to the hospital. The majority (91.0%) of the patients presented with late disease. In this study pleural effusion is the commonest form of morbidity (44.0%) among patients with breast cancer. The mortality rate is 26.0%, though significantly high, only reflected death that occurred within the hospital which might be a far cry from the overall mortality in five (5) years because a significant number of the terminally ill patients preferred to die at home or in proximity to family members. Conclusion: The majority of the patients were young premenopausal women with advanced breast cancer at the time of presentation. Delayed presentation is responsible for the dismal outlook of breast cancer care in Nigeria. The reasons for delays are protean, however, the importance of early presentation to curbing the scourge of breast cancer cannot be overemphasized. Early diagnosis is crucial to the management and outcome of breast cancer, thus there is an urgent need to establish national breast cancer screening programs to facilitate early diagnosis and mitigate its morbidity and mortality, by healthcare policymakers in the country.
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
ER  - 

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