Neoplastic and non-neoplastic breast lesions in a rural teaching hospital at Tamil Nadu: A retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Breast malignancy is one of the leading cause of cancer death in women, which is a complex disease, comprising of distinctive histological patterns and it is the responsibility of the pathologist to differentiate a benign lesion from a malignant one. This study was done to evaluate the age, gender, laterality, frequency and histopathological features of non-malignant and malignant lesions in a rural hospital. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was done in the Department of Pathology Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital for a period of 5years from January 2017 to December 2021. The data was collected in a proforma with relevant detailed informations. The excised specimens were received in buffered formalin, processed, sectioned and stained with routine Haematoxylin and Eosin stains. Results: Out of 570 cases in breast lesions, the female cases reported were 92.1% and males 7.9%. The maximum number of breast lesion were seen on the left side followed by right side and bilaterality with 47.9%, 44.4% and 7.7% respectively. The non-malignant lesions accounts for 79.3% and the malignant lesions 20.7%. Among the non-malignant lesions Fibroadenoma with 60.2% and in malignant lesions Infiltrating ductal carcinoma with 93.2% were maximum encountered. Conclusion: In our study, most of the malignant lesions were in the late stage, due to lack of awareness, which can be rectified by conducting camps and awareness programmes. Further this study emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and management in malignancies to reduce the morbidity and mortality.