Presentation and diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspiration cytology and ultrasonography in detecting breast cancer in tribal females of rural West Bengal

Comparison of Ultrasonography and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in the Diagnosis of Malignant Breast Lesions in a Rural Setup

“…We also found that the patients with malignant breast lumps that were from rural areas, 72% of the them had consulted the clinician after a delay of more than 6 months when the disease has already progressed, whereas the patients that were from urban cities, 70% of them had consulted within the 15 days of noticing the lump. This was in accordance with the results of Mukherjee et al 13 and Malik et al 18 This clearly shows that the patients from urban areas are more aware and cautious regarding the breast disease as they are presenting early in the course of disease whereas patients from rural areas are late presenters due to ignorance and unawareness. This substantial delay in the referral of patients from underprivileged, remote areas, where the patients continue to receive symptomatic treatment till the time that the disease becomes incurable, is due to the lack of proper screening program and inadequate and unequal distribution of the health care facilities in underdeveloped countries.…”

“…This observation is not in accordance with previous studies by Kelsey et al 11 and Lambe et al 12 who stated that nulliparous women have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. 13…”