Breast cancers among women presenting with palpable breast lump in a tertiary care hospital – a cross-sectional study

Background: Breast cancer, in Nepal, accounts for 6% of all cancers where the commonest age group is 40–50 years. It’s late presentation and lack of timely screening and treatment have led to high mortality in Nepal. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of breast cancer among women presenting with breast lumps in a tertiary care center in Nepal and to analyze associated risk factors and clinicopathological features, thereby contributing valuable insight for early diagnosis and resource-appropriate screening strategies in similar healthcare settings. Methodology: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a Department of Surgery. After obtaining the informed written consent, female patients ≥18 years presenting to the surgical outpatient department (OPD)/emergency room (ER) with breast lump from January 2022 to June 2024 were involved in the study. A predesigned proforma was used to collect data and was later analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) taking P < 0.05 as significant. Results: Based on histopathological examination, the participants were divided into two groups, Group 1 (breast cancer) and Group 2 (benign breast disease). The prevalence of breast cancer among patients presenting with palpable breast lump was 7.2% ( n = 18/250). Group 1 cases were found to be significantly different than Group 2 in terms of age, body mass index(BMI), education, job, menopause ( P -value < 0.001) and marital status ( P -value = 0.036). The lump in Group 1 cases was mostly painless, hard and non-mobile ( P -value < 0.001). Group 1 cases were also significantly different in various risk factors such as relative’s history, contraceptives, parity, smoking, alcohol ( P -value < 0.001) and diabetes mellitus ( P -value = 0.002). Among malignant cases, invasive ductal carcinoma was most common (72.2%), followed by invasive lobular carcinoma (16.7%) and invasive mucinous carcinoma (11.1%). The majority were staged as IIA (44.4%) or IIB (22.2%) at diagnosis. Conclusion: Breast cancer was found to be associated with various patient demographics, lump characteristics and risk factors. Timely detection of the early sign such as breast lump could prevent the progression of disease and reduce mortality.