Study of Carcinoma Breast in Women under 40 Year of age at A Tertiary Care Hospital in Central India

Abstract

Breast cancer among young women is a relatively uncommon. Many of the times the diagnosis is delayed in these patients owing to the reluctance of surgeons to subject young females to mammography because of the involved radiation. Current study was conducted to study various aspects of carcinoma breast occurring in patients younger than 40 years of age. Material and Methods: This was a prospective study conducted in the surgery department in which 57 patients less than 40 years of age and diagnosed to be having carcinoma breast were included on the basis of a predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The risk factors, clinical presentation, staging and outcome were studied in these cases. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS16.0 version software. P-value less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The most common affected age group was found to be between 35-40 years (56.14%). Common symptoms included lump in breast (100%), pain (19.29%) and discharge (17.54%). Majority of the patients had their first child birth at age less than 20 years. Upper outer quadrant was the most commonly affected site (56.14%) and nipple retraction (19.29%) was the most common sign in the studied cases. Most common tumor and clinical staging were found to be T3 (33.33%) and T III B (28.07%) respectively. Surgery and hormonal therapy were the most common treatment modalities given to these patients (85%). Most common histopathological type was found to be infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Conclusion: Our study concludes that age less than 40 yrs is associated with diagnosis of breast cancer at an advanced stage and young patients presenting with breast lumps should not in any way be considered different from relatively older patients and all standard screening and diagnostic investigations must be carried out for early diagnosis and proper interventions.