Morphological Subtypes of Breast Cancer Among Women of Childbearing Age in Imo State, Nigeria

Inadequate diagnosis and prediction of tumour behaviours across institutions in Nigeria continues to result in diagnostic delay and impact on quality and reliability of pathology results. These are addressable gaps in pathology services. Breast cancer classification helps to provide accurate diagnosis of the disease and prediction of tumour behaviors to facilitate oncologic decision-making and treatment. The objective of this study was to determine the morphological subtypes of breast cancer occurring among women of childbearing age in Imo State, Nigeria. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted among breast cancer cases, aged between 16-49 years who were diagnosed at the Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri, Nigeria, from January 2018 to February 2022. A total of 263 female breast cancer cases met the inclusion criteria. The modal age range was 40-49 years old. The top occurring morphological subtype was Invasive ductal carcinoma with a score of 68.1%. Invasive ductal carcinoma is breast cancer pure form of its morphology. Next were invasive ductal malignant breast cancer B5b scoring 17.1% and invasive ductal mucinous type, 6.8%. Other variants include, mucinous adenocarcinoma, 2.3%, metastatic melanoma, 1.9%, invasive ductal metastatic adenocarcinoma, 0.8%, invasive papillary, 1.9% and invasive lobular, 1.1%. Invasive ductal carcinoma was by far the highest occurring morphologic subtype of breast cancer among women of child-bearing age. Morphological subtypes of breast cancer may not carry strong prognostic information based on the subtype alone, hence further molecular studies are recommended to inform precision medicine and enhance therapeutic outcome.