Evaluation of the Proliferation of Breast Cancer Cells Among Women in Osun State, Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Nigeria has one of the highest morbidity rates from breast cancer; therefore, this work examined the proliferation rate of breast cancer and the hospital presentation time lag among women in Osun State, Nigeria. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife and Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Oshogbo, Nigeria. The request cards and tissue blocks were sorted from the year 2014 to 2017. The time lag it took the patients to report at the hospitals was retrieved from the request cards. The breast tissue blocks were sectioned, stained with H&E, and graded. A representative tissue block was selected for each patient. Sections obtained from the blocks were stained with Mki67 antibody using a diaminobenzidine horseradish peroxidase technique. The cells were semiquantitatively scored as percentage of tumor cells stained brown. The mean ± SD was calculated. Results Out of 240 breast cancer patients sampled, 6 (2.5%), 97 (40.4), and 137 (57.1%), respectively, were grades 1, 2, and 3. The mean value of MKi67 was 23.90 ± 20.38, median 16.00. The mean value for grade 2 cancer was 15.31 ± 14.34; grade 3 cancer was 37.95 ± 22.47. Only 21.9% of breast cancer patients came to clinic within 3 months of lumps awareness in their breasts while 64.5% attended clinic after 6 months. Conclusions Breast cancer among the Osun State women was not very aggressive when comparing the Mki67 values obtained in this study with the values obtained in the developed world. Greater percentages of women with breast cancer waited too long before presenting themselves at the hospital. Thus, a high morbidity rate was recorded.