A retrospective study of surgical breast tumors in Iraq

Abstract

Background:- In Iraq, breast cancer is the commonest cancer in females. There is an increasing frequency of breast cancer in Iraq and in the world. Objective:- The objective of this study is to investigate the incidence of breast tumors according to age of patients, tumor size and tumor grade. Patients and Methods:- In this study 44 cases (female patients) were investigated. The age of patients ranged from 17 years to 85 years with a mean of 43 years. A retrospective investigation of surgical lesions was studied, consisting of eight benign lesions (four cases of fibrocystic disease and four cases of fibroadenoma) and 36 malignant breast tumors. Result:-The result revealed that woman between 36-49 years old showed the highest incident of breast cancer (61.1%) mostly of ductal type (75%) of moderately to poorly differentiated grade. Regarding the benign lesions most of cases were from women of less than 35 years age. Regarding the size of tumor, it was found that 62.5% of benign tumors had size of less than 2 cm. whereas, 55.6% of the malignant tumors were found to be greater than 5 cm. Screening and control program in Iraq for breast cancer at early ages is highly recommended.