Pattern of Mammography Findings among Symptomatic Females Referred for Diagnostic Mammography at a Tertiary Center in South‑East Nigeria

Background: Breast symptoms are not uncommon among Nigerian adult females. Most worrisome are symptoms associated with the possibility of breast cancer. Mammography is an imaging technique being introduced in third world practice as an aid for screening and diagnosis of patients with breast symptoms. Objective: To document the pattern of mammographic findings in symptomatic females referred for mammography. Methodology: Patients with breast symptoms of palpable lump, pain or nipple discharge referred to the mammography unit of the Radiology department were recruited into the study at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Nigeria between June, 2012 and May 2013. Two standard views (cranio-caudal-CC and medio-lateral oblique-MLO) were done on both breasts for each patient. Results: Study population comprised seventy-one patients aged 20 to 79 years with a mean age of 48.3 years ±9.5, and range of 20 - 70 years. Of these, forty (56.3%) presented with breast pain, twenty-five (35.2%) had palpable breast lump, while fourteen (19.7%) presented with nipple discharge. 74.65% percent of participants showed positive mammographic findings. These were a well circumscribed breast opacity (35.2%), asymmetric soft tissue density (39.4%), calcification (39.4%), breast asymmetry (8.5%), nipple retraction (7.0%), tissue retraction (4.2%), skin thickening (1.4%), and axillary nodes (9.9%). Mammography calcifications were noted in 28 cases. Four of these (14.3%) were micro-calcification, while 24 (85.7%) were various forms of macro-calcifications. Conclusion: Asymmetric soft tissue density, calcification and well circumscribed breast opacity were the commonest mammographic findings among symptomatic women in our environment. Follow-up imaging or minimally-invasive image-guided biopsy or cytology may be indicated for further evaluation.