English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The breast tissue consists of both specialised epithelial cells and stroma. It is a site of a broad array of pathological alterations. Both benign and malignant lesions can occur in the breast. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed female cancer accounting for 20 % of female malignancies globally. METHODS The study was carried out to evaluate the histopathological patterns of 589 breast lesions whose biopsied breast tissues were presented at the Pathology department of Tezpur Medical College and Hospital, Tezpur, Assam, for a period of three (03) years from January 01, 2017 to December 31, 2019. RESULTS Out of 589 cases of breast lesions, 418 were benign breast lesions (70.97 %) and 171 were malignant (29.03 %) with a benign and malignant ratio of 2.44:1. Fibroadenoma breast was the most common benign breast disease were 264 out of 418 (63.15 %) and infiltrating duct carcinoma was the commonest malignant breast lesions, in this study there were 123 out of 171 (71.93 %). Among 123 cases of infiltrating duct carcinoma, 93 (75.61 %) were grade III ;27 (21.95 %) were grade II and 03 (2.44 %) were grade I as per Nottingham histologic score system in the study group. Metastatic lymph nodes were 89 (52.05 %) were seen in the malignant cases. Early presentation (stage 0, I and II) constituted 77 (45.45 %) while late presentation (stage III and VI) accounted for 94 (54.97 %) in the breast malignancy in the study. CONCLUSIONS Histopathological study plays very important role in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of breast lesions. This study highlighted the distinct incidences and pathological characteristics of wide range of breast diseases and affirmed that breast cancers in developing countries like India are characterised by late presentation. KEYWORDS Fibroadenoma, Duct Papilloma, Lipoma, Infiltrating Duct Carcinoma, Ductal Ca in Situ, Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, Lobular Carcinoma in situ, Medullary Carcinoma, Mucinous Carcinoma, Malignant Phyllodes