Background: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that represents a major public health problem. The immunohistochemical determination of breast cancer subtypes with regard to estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) status can contribute to improved selection of therapy and patientcare. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of the molecular breast cancer subtypes and to assess their associations with classical clinicopathologic parameters for better therapeutic decisions in women with breast cancer in the Ivory Coast. Materials and Methods: Formalinfixed and paraffin-embedded blocks of patients diagnosed with primary breast carcinoma were subjected to immunohistochemical assay for the assessment of ER/RP and HER2 expression. The one-way analysis of variance evaluated the difference between breast cancer subtypes and mean age of patients. The Chi-square Test was used to compare standard clinicopathologic prognostic parameters with tumor subtypes. Results. Among 302 patients, 57% were premenopausal and 43% were postmenopausal. The invasive ductal carcinoma not otherwise specified (IDC NOS) (82.8%) was the most frequent histological type, and the tumor grade 2 (56%) was predominant followed by grade 3 (20.9%). The proportion of positivity of ER, PR, and HER2 was 56%, 49%, and 15.6%, respectively. Half of patients of this study (51.6%) had luminal A breast tumor type followed by TN (32.1%). Other subtypes were luminal B (10.1% ) and non-luminal HER2+ (6.3%). Conclusions. The findings of the present study are in line with the literature and should assist in management of breast cancer in our country.

Genital cancers in women play an important role in cancer pathology in the developing countries. Objectives: This study aimed at clarifying the epidemiological and histopathological aspects of woman genital cancers in Côte d'Ivoire. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective and descriptive study conducted in the anatomical pathology laboratories of the university hospitals in Abidjan. The study was carried out over a period of twenty-four years (1984-2007). The variables studied were: frequency, age, histological type and prognosis. Results: Genital cancers in women accounted for 41.28% (n = 2491) of cancer in women and 21% of cancers. The average age of patients was 46.65 years (range 2-88 years). The cervix (82.85%) was the main location followed by the ovary (8.6%). Histologically, carcinomas (92.93%) were the most common types of sarcomas. Cervical cancers were diagnosed at an average age of 47.36 years (range 2 to 88 years). Carcinomas were the predominant histological type (92.88%) with 57.4% (n = 450) diagnosed at pT2N0M0 stage. The average age of patients bearing ovarian cancer was 39.13 years (range 8 to 82 years). Common malignant epithelial tumours were the most common histological type (57.48%) (n = 123) followed by non-Hodgkin lymphoma (14.95%). Conclusion: Genital cancers in women are common and poorly prognosed in Côte d'Ivoire. The adoption of a policy of routine screening is needed to improve the prognosis of these tumours.

Background: Patients primarily received tamoxifen based on their menopausal status due to the lack of immunohistochemistry. A recent study has shown that hormonal receptors were not correlated with menopausal status, and thus, indicating that they present limited therapeutic and prognostic significance in breast cancer management. This study aimed to evaluate Ki-67 value and analyze its association with clinicopathologic parameters in breast cancer patients. Methods: The formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded breast tissue blocks of 125 patients with primary breast carcinomas were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis using Ventana Benchmark ® GX automated immunostainer. Analysis of variance and Chi-2 test were used to examine the relationship between Ki-67 and clinicopathologic variables. Results: The mean age of 125 patients included in the study was 47.7 years. The average score of Ki-67 was 56.0%. 84.8% of patients showed Ki-67 ≥ 14%. Mean scores of Ki-67 were correlated with grade (p = 0.006), PR (p = 0.026), histological type, ER, combined ER/RP, and molecular subtype (p < 0.001). Ki-67 was independent of HER2 (p = 0.402) and menopausal status (p = 0.471). The frequency of Ki-67 according to St Gallen 2011 was associated with histological type (p = 0.005), grade (p = 0.005), ER (p < 0.001), combined ER/PR (p = 0.004), and molecular subtype (p = 0.004). There was no significant relationship between the distribution of Ki-67 and the age of the patients (p = 0.859), menopausal status (p = 0.979), PR (p = 0.149), and HER2 (p = 0.597). Conclusion: Ki-67 is useful for treatment decisions in primary breast cancer patients. The high value of Ki-67 was associated with adverse clinicopathologic factors. The increased Ki-67 value should be carefully investigated in triple negative patients.

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BackgroundBreast cancer is a heterogeneous and a hormone-dependent disease. The detection of the estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) is crucial for prognostic evaluation and treatment choice of breast cancer for clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of the hormonal receptors, their distribution, and their correlation with clinicopathologic prognostic parameters for the improvement of the patients’ treatment in Ivory Coast.MethodsThe 20-month prospective study included 302 patients who were diagnosed with primary invasive breast carcinomas at the Central Laboratory in Abidjan. The paraffin-embedded blocks of these patients were examined by immunohistochemistry to assess the ER and PgR status. The one-way analysis of variance and Chi-Square Test were used to analyze the data.ResultsThe mean age of patients at diagnosis was 48 ± 11 years. The majority of the women were premenopausal in 180 cases (59.9%). The predominant histologic type was invasive ductal carcinoma not otherwise specified (IDC NOS) in 247 cases (82%). Tumor grade 2 was more frequent in 166 cases (55%). Among 302 patients, 169 (56%) and 154 (49%) expressed ER and PgR respectively. The ER+PgR+ group with 131 cases (43%) was predominant, followed by 116 cases (38%) of ER-PgR-. The expression of ER and PgR was correlated with the age of the patients (p = 0.026) and the tumor grade (p = 0.0004). However, there was not statistically significant correlation between ER/PgR and the menopausal status of patients (p = 0.149), nor between ER/PgR and the histologic type (p = 0.523).ConclusionThe ER+PgR+ and ER-PgR- are the most common subgroups in women with breast cancer in Ivory Coast. The hormonal receptor status is associated with the age and the histologic grade in breast cancer patients. The systematic use of hormonal treatment should be reevaluated. A further study should be done to investigate the reasons of high rate of ER-PgR- in breast cancer patients in Ivory Coast.