Epidemio clinical, anatomopathological profile and iconography of breast cancer in women at the university clinics of Lubumbashi

Abstract

Introduction: Most cases of breast cancer occur in low-income countries. Breast cancer patients in resource-limited settings experience longer diagnostic delays, leading to later-stage presentations. The late discovery of breast cancer breast exposes the patient to longer treatment mutilating, longer, more expensive, with reduced chance of recovery. It is therefore important to promote early detection and diagnosis at the beginning stage to reduce morbidity and mortality. Patient and Method: our cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out over a period of 5 years (2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020) in the surgery department of the university clinics of Lubumbashi. Its main objective was to describe the epidemiological, clinical and histological aspects of breast cancer breast at the University Clinics of Lubumbashi. Results: it emerges from this work that breast cancer represents 3.34% of all cancers collected during the study period. The number of breast cancers varied from 3 cases recorded in 2015 to 29 in 2020, with an average of 12 cases per year. The majority of them came from the Lubumbashi commune, i.e. 39% of cases. The age of the majority of patients was over 35 years old or 60% with an average of 41.59± 13.44 years. The average consultation time was 10.52± 7.12 months, the breast nodule was the revealing sign in most cases, i.e. 94%. The most important primary method of cancer detection was self-examination (59.72%). The most found risk factors were family history and breast density with 36% and 28% respectively. The tumor was located on the left in 65% of cases with the most important seat in the superoexternal quadrant (42%). The mean tumor size was 4.43±2.26 cm. The most found histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma with 90% of cases. Management was surgical and consisted of lumpectomy in the majority of cases (58.83%). Conclusion: breast cancer remains very common in Lubumbashi among women over 35 years old. Its diagnosis is often late, the average delay being 10.52±7.12 months. It is important to strengthen early detection measures in order to reduce mortality linked to late management.