DIVERSITY OF HISTOLOGICAL VARIANTS OF BREAST CANCER: A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE IN KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of histological subtypes of breast cancer and its association with age, molecular subtype, menopausal status, parity, obesity and tumor grade.

Study Design: Prospective, observational study.

Place and Duration of Study: The current study was conducted at Oncology Ward-4, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi, Pakistan, from Apr 2018 to Sep 2019.

Methodology: Non-probability convenience technique was used for the sample selection. All patients with diagnosed breast cancer presenting at Oncology ward, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center were included in the study. Cases with a non-confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer or those with unknown histological subtype were excluded from the study. Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 25) was used to analyze the data. Chi-Square test was used to find the association of histological subtypes with age, molecular subtype, menopausal status, parity, obesity, grade of tumor among breast cancer patients.

Results: A total of 553 cases of breast cancer patients were reviewed in the study. The mean age of participants was 46.75 ± 10.852 years. We found a frequency of 91.3% of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (not otherwise specified) among women in our setting. The other rare types of cancer included invasive lobular carcinoma 2%, metaplastic 1.4%, and invasive micropapillary carcinoma 1%. Invasive ductal carcinoma (not otherwise specified). Invasive lobular carcinoma were significantly associated with luminal A type disease (p<0.05) while metaplastic was associated with basal type disease (p=0.006).

Conclusion: The most common histological subtype of breast carcinoma in our study population was invasive ductal carcinoma (not otherwise specified). However, various rarer variants of invasive ductal carcinoma were also reported. Histological subtypes play a pivotal role in predicting the behavior and clinical outcome of breast carcinomas.