BREAST CANCER IN NORTHERN PAKISTAN

Authors

  • Gul Mohammad
  • Aurang zeb
  • S. Humayun Shah

Abstract

ABSTRACTOne hundred and twenty patients were treated for carcinoma of the breast at theDistrict Head Quarter Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad from 1984-1989. The age at diagnosisappears to be bimodal with an early peak between 36 years and 40 years and a later peakbetween 60 years and 66 years. As expected, these patients were of high parity (median 5) and96% of them had breast fed for an average of 16 months, late presentation with advancedsystemic disease accounts for the dismal prognosis. Eighty-four percent of the patientspresented with late disease and only 16% with early disease. Of the 25 patients, followed uptodeath, the median survival was 12 weeks. For various logistic reasons, long-term follow upwas not possible for the remaining patients. To improve the outcome of breast cancer in ourcommunity an active educational programme is needed to increase the public awareness ofthe significance of beast symptomatology.Key words: breast cancer, late presentation.

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