Decreasing trend of tumor size and downstaging in breast cancer in Iran: results of a 15-year study

Abstract

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to show the characteristics of breast cancer across a period of 15 years according to pathological records in Tehran, Iran. In the year 1985, a 20-year study was designed and developed in five major hospitals in Tehran to study the burden and characteristics of breast cancer in Iran. This study is based on the data collected from 1986 through 2000. SPSS version 13 was used for statistical analysis. In this study, 1612 female breast cancer records were reviewed. The mean age of patients was 47.95+/-12.42 years with a median of 47 years. Over the study period, the proportion of tumors diagnosed at T2 increased with a decline in the proportion of T3 cases. Similarly, the percentage of stage II cases at diagnosis increased, whereas stage III decreased. We detected a decrease in tumor size and downstaging of female breast cancer in Tehran, Iran. This can be attributed to the overall improvement in the level of health in Iran and also educational activities that teach women how to perform breast self-exam and when and why to ask for breast examination.

Very Young Breast Cancer in a Referral Center in Tehran, Iran: Review of 55 Cases Aged 25 or Less throughout 33 Years

“…Nevertheless, the rate of lymphatic invasion (63.15%) in our cases shows a similar propensity for lymphatic metastases in VY women and other patients [45.5% (Mousavi et al, 2008) and 70% (Harirchi et al, 2010) in two different studies in all ages]. Our study shows a high level of hormone receptor negative tumors as expected, and a 20% (3 out of 15) for triple negative cancers.…”

“…It has been shown that breast cancer affects Iranian women at least one decade younger than the female population in developed countries (Harirchi et al, 2004;Bidgoli et al, 2010;Kolahdoozan et al, 2010), with an incidence of 20-25% for cases under 40 and about 5% for age under 30 (Mousavi et al, 2008;Harirchi et al, 2010;.…”

Trends in Epidemiology, Clinical and Histopathological Characteristics of Breast Cancer in Iran: Results of a 17 Year Study

“…They also found high rate of LNI at the time of presentation. Indeed, the frequency of advanced BC in Iran is high and despite all considerable improvements in the diagnostic tools during past decades (Harirchi et al, 2010), the frequency of advanced BC rose in the last phases of study. Even, if we had the metastatic status of the study population, patients might be placed in higher stages, as well.…”

“…The incidence of BC among young Asian women is moderate but is increasing and may be more than two fold higher than western countries (Agarwal et al, 2007;Karihtala et al, 2010). Previous studies showed that BC has become the most 6906 on the recent changes in age distribution for primary and secondary prevention of BC (Mousavi et al, 2008;Harirchi et al, 2010). Aging is considered as one of the main risk factors for developing new BC events (Gennari et al, 2004;Molino et al, 2006;Benz, 2008).…”

Predicting the stage shift as a result of breast cancer screening in low- and middle-income countries: a proof of concept

“…Although the amount of stage shift cannot be straightforwardly linked to breast cancer mortality, it can be regarded as an important proxy for the performance of early detection programmes. 8,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Particularly in LMICs where the stage distribution of newly diagnosed breast cancer cases is often poor, the amount of stage shift is an essential performance indicator that could help LIMCs to decide on which breast cancer control programmes to implement.…”