Breast Lumps in NAUTH, Nnewi :A 5 year Review

Background Breast lump is the most common reason for presenting to breast clinics. It is a source of great anxiety to a female when it is discovered. Objective This study aims at a clinico-pathologic review of breast lump as a presenting complaint. Material and Methods A 5-year retrospective analysis of 550 patients presenting with a complaint of breast lump to the breast clinic of NnamdiAzikiwe University TeachingHospital (NAUTH) Nnewi, fromJanuary 2004 December 2008. Results Breast lump was the presenting complaint in 550(82.8%) of 664 patients presenting to the breast clinic. The lump was painless in 458 (83.3%), associated with pain and breast ulcer in 59(10.7%) and 33(6.0%) patients respectively. Females constitute 548(99.6%) with only 2(0.4%) males. There was no palpable lump in 23 patients (4.2%) on clinical examination and only 54 patients (9.7%) ad >1 lump. The clinical diagnosis were breast cancer in 260 patients (47.3%), fibroadenoma in 175 (31.8%), fibrocystic changes in 67 (12.2%) patients. The others were different types of benign diseases. Histopathology report was available in 294 patients with 161(54.8%), 56(19.0%) and 46(15.6%) patients diagnosed respectively as having invasive cancer, fibroadenoma, and fibrocystic changes. Conclusion Our study shows that breast lump was the most common presenting complaint with most patients not presenting early. Fewer lumps are discovered by breast self examination. The finding that breast cancer was slightly more common than benign breast lesions is at variance with most studies probably due to proliferation in our environment of private owned hospitals by general practitioners where most of the benign lesions are probably managed. But the finding of fibroadenoma as the most common of the benign lesions is similar to that reported by other researchers in Nigeria and other parts of theworld.KeyWords: breast lump, Nnewi,Review