Purpose: To estimate the incidence of breast cancer in Yemeni female patients presenting with a breast mass. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out with 595 female patients with palpable breast lumps, attending to Alkuwait university hospital, Sana'a, Yemen. Triple assessment, including breast examination, mammography and biopsy (FNAC, core needle, or excision), for all patients were performed. Results: The incidences of benign and malignant lesions was calculated. Some 160 (26.9%) of 595 patients had malignancies; 213 (35.8%) were fibroadenomas; 12 (2.0%) were fibrocystic change; 143 (24.03%) were inflammatory lesions (including mastitis and ductectasia); 62 (10.4%) were simple cysts, while 5 (0.8%) were phyllodes tumors. The mean age of patients with malignant lumps was 44.3 years. Conclusions: Among Yemeni female patients with palpable breast lumps, the rate of breast cancer is high, with occurrence at an earlier age than in Western countries. Improving breast cancer awareness programs and increasing breast cancer screening centers inb different areas of Yemen are needed to establish early diagnosis and offer early and optimal treatment

Background: The prevalence of thyroid cancer is increasing worldwide. No previous data are available on the prevalence of thyroid cancer in Yemen. We performed this study to determine the prevalence of thyroid cancer among patients with thyroid nodules in Yemen. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed for 550 patients with thyroid nodules who underwent fine needle aspiration and/or thyroid surgery at a private endocrine clinic and at an endocrine clinic in a tertiary hospital in Yemen over a 3-year period from October 2016-2019. The prevalence of thyroid cancer; the sonographic findings, Bethesda classification, age, sex, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels of the patients; and the nodule size and number were reviewed. Results: A total of 550 charts were reviewed [501 females (91.1%) and 49 males (8.9%)]. The thyroid cancer prevalence among the patients was 13.8% (CI = 10.9-16.7), and the mean age of the patients was 38.5 years (SD = 12.2). The TSH level and the rate of cancer were significantly related (P = 0.01), but no significant difference in the prevalence of thyroid cancer was found between females (13.4%) and males (18.4%) (P = 0.334). When correlating the rate of cancer with the ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration (UG-FNA) result, those with Bethesda system category III and IV, V and VI had malignancy rates of 20.8, 27.2, 52.4 and 69.2%, respectively. Thyroid nodules highly suspicious for malignancy on ultrasound had a 70% cancer diagnosis rate. The most common thyroid cancer was papillary cancer (71%), followed by follicular cancer (23.7%). Among those undergoing surgery, 44.2% had thyroid cancer, and 5.2% had a premalignant diagnosis. Conclusion: Thyroid cancer has a higher prevalence in Yemen than in other middle eastern countries. Our study also reports a higher rate of follicular thyroid cancer than that in other published data, which has to be confirmed by further studies. The malignancy and premalignant diagnosis rate was~50% in our patients who underwent surgery. Many centers in Yemen still do not perform FNA before thyroid surgery. It is important that other centers in the country start emphasizing the need for FNA before surgery. This will decrease the number of unnecessary surgeries and associated complications.

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Background: Oncoplastic breast conserving surgery is limited in treatment of Yemeni breast cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability and safety of oncoplastic breast surgery in Yemeni patients with early breast cancer. Material & Methods: Patients with early breast cancer who underwent oncoplastic breast conserving surgery from July 2014 to July 2020 were included in this retrospective study. Data on the patient’s demographic, tumor characteristics, the type of oncoplastic technique performed, surgical margin involved, re-excision rate, complications, satisfaction, follow up and local recurrence rate were included to evaluate the results. Results: A total of 50 breast cancer patients underwent oncoplastic surgery by using different techniques. Volume displacement technique was the commonest technique used in 92% of the patients (local glandular flap in 64%, reduction mammoplasty in 22%, Grissoti flap in 4% and bat-wing in 2%) While the volume replacement (Latissmus dorsi flap) technique was used in 8 % of the patients with small breasts. 70% of the patients were less than 40 years old. The mean tumor size was 3.4cm. Most of the tumors (84%) was invasive ductal carcinoma. The overall postoperative complication was 14% [wound infection (4%), wound dehiscence (8%) and fat necrosis (2%)]. Re excision rate was 12% and complete mastectomy was performed for 2 patients. Patient satisfaction was 96%. Local recurrence rate was 4% with mean follow up of 23.1 (SD:16) months.Conclusion: The oncoplastic breast conserving surgery is reliable and safe with good oncological and aesthetic outcomes for treatment of early breast cancer in Yemeni patients.